Two words: Chaifetz Arena

Compared with the other 10,000 seat arenas, the new Chaifetz Arena at SLU has the best potential as a concert venue in St. Louis. Great lighting, acoustics, amenities, and the parking isn’t as bad as some people think. If you can park 8 or 10 blocks away for a Cardinals game, you can park 2 blocks away for a concert.

Stay tuned, Chaifetz is going to draw many national touring acts to St. Louis. Once their management and promotion staff is up to speed, good things will start happening.

KC draws from a huge area. There are no significant Metros for about 1,000 miles to the west and about 500 miles to the south. KC is on the edge of nowhere. STL is closer to Chicago, Memphis, & Indy. STL is as close to Chicago as KC is to STL. The STL metro may be much bigger than the KC metro, but KC has a larger “draw” area.

Perhaps Tina is still unhappy with the way Ike was treated last year by Mayor Slay. She obviously isn’t thrilled with Ike on a personal level, but he was being honored for his musicianship and not his private life, and St. Louis dissed him pretty hard. It isn’t the biggest reason she is skipping us this time, but it may have tilted things more towards KC.

Dave
St. Louis is not the only city that VH cancelled. You are actually wrong, VH didn’t sellout the show during the first scheduled concert. That is why I got 12th row seats a month after tickets went on sale. And I could have ordered a seat on any level at that time. VH cancelled the first time due to ticket sales and not logitics. Logistics was a sucker excuse. Look at their original schedule and you will see that. Why didn’t The Who or Genesis come here last year. It was due to the fact that they knew it would be a hard sell here. And people in St. louis need to get off their high horse and stop telling each other what a great city it is. Wow the St. Louis Zoo and Brewery. Now that is huckleberry fun Jed.

Justin, We’ve never been (nor are close to being) a top 20 market.

ok…..

1st- screw Madonna…old washed up hag. big loss.

2nd- luv ya Tina, but you must be 75 by now. Big loss.

3rd- Why isn’t the Dome used more often? I mean , it sits empty 300 days a year, such a waste.

4th- Where did you go to high school?

It is a very interesting thing about St. Louis…

It seems to get skipped over for a lot of things, not just concerts. I lived there 2.5 years (moved there from Chicago) and found the whole experience to be incredibly head-scratching. I enjoyed it, but St. Louis is unlike any other city I’ve visited or lived in. I would never try to compare St. Louis and Chicago–you can’t–they are apples and oranges. But so many people in STL seem to have such an apparent complex with Chicago. I can’t tell you how many times people made comments about STL vs. Chicago, living in the shadow of Chicago, why would I ever move there from Chicago. It was bizarre–I have never seen a city so full of cynics and naysayers. Where is the pride? And if it’s such an awful place, why don’t people go somewhere that isn’t so awful rather than stay there and be miserable, bashing the city to anyone and everyone? I think this mentality permeates its way through the culture and psyche of the city and that’s why STL does not attract as many major concerts, interesting retailers, dynamic businesses, or large investments from outside interests. I know this is a gross generalization, but it’s true. Look at Austin, TX or Raleigh, NC or Denver, CO, Portland, OR–smaller metro areas but far advanced in so many ways. The same mentality was apparent in the workplace as well–don’t rock the boat, good enough is just good enough, new is scary, change equals fear, and so on. I came to St. Louis with incredible enthusiasm and optimism, but there are deeply rooted social and cultural issues that put STL squarely where it rests in the collective national psyche–decidedly average and resistant to outsiders and the outside world. I’m sorry, but it’s the truth. Until then there will be no IKEA, American Apparel, Madonna Tour Stop, or major companies setting up shop or relocating there.

DR, as a non-native STLsan, I couldn’t agree with you more. The problem is, to see those things you have to look from away from STL. Most people here don’t have that possibility or experience.

shuttletrain is right about the STL Police. They hate crowds of any kind. Particularly crowds enjoying a party, evidence Mardi Gras in Soulard! I’ve been to SuperBowls in The Big Easy and they welcome crowds with open arms. I’ve been to street parties in Dallas, Chicago and San Diego and their police departments don’t treat their partying citizens like Baghdad Terrorists.

I grew up in StL and have lived in KC since ‘87. For years I’ve enjoyed bashing KC but I must admit the stuff they are doing downtown is very impressive. The entertainment options here are improving, and the Power and Light District is a blast.

I do agree with previous comments that it will be interesting to see how this plays out long term. Perhaps after the initial rush it will settle down again. But they are not done with the redevelopment downtown, I think there’s enough coming to keep interest up for the forseeable future.