10.13.2008 7:05 am

The Pageant remains tops for worldwide concert-going

By Kevin C. Johnson



Say what you will about St. Louis’ concert scene and whether it’s a just a secondary market, but it never seems to effect the Pageant.



The Delmar Loop concert venue ranks at No. 4 on the Top 100 Worldwide Club Venues list, printed quarterly in Pollstar magazine (the Bible of the music touring industry).

link

This just proves what many of us on this forum already know about St. Louis! St. Louis has the bones of a world class city and anytime we want to assume that position we can. Its just that the people in this town have a real "we are a second rate city" type attitude. We have the history, the uniqueness, the architecture, the culture......we just need the can-do attitude that first rate cities have. Every time I bring someone to St. Louis they rave about how cool and quirky it is and say "why inst St. Louis better known?". When will the nonsense end, how many people outside this forum are ready to say "I love this town and I'm proud to be from here"?

This is great. It's also been nice to see several smaller music venues open up here in the last few months.



Now, if they could just do something about Riverport. Namely, shut it down and move it downtown.

I like the Pageant however I wish the Orpheum downtown could be just as successful. I think the Orpheum could be a great venue and is way better looking than the Pageant.

Yeah I hate riverport. The large outdoor amps are typically the worst venues to see a concert. If someone blew up riverport today I wouldnt care one bit.

I know I'm going to get flamed for this, but to me the Pageant feels like an indoor Riverport. Bland with no character. Rock music sounds best in a gritty, dingy dive.

ben1040 wrote:I know I'm going to get flamed for this, but to me the Pageant feels like an indoor Riverport. Bland with no character. Rock music sounds best in a gritty, dingy dive.

Given the choice between seeing a show at Pageant or Bluebird, I'll take the Pageant any day of the week.



Given the choice of Pageant and Creepy Crawl, it's a little more even (though the location next to Dapper Dan's was way better).

My alltime fav was Mississippi Nights. So many memories

Downtown2007 wrote:My alltime fav was Mississippi Nights. So many memories

++



I definitely miss that place. Thanks, Pinnacle.



I was at a concert at the Fox last night - definitely one of the best venues in town. Every time I go there, I am just in awe.

I once listened to an interview with Roger Waters in which he said that the Fox Theater in St. Louis was his favorite place to play. Importantly, the interview was not done in St. Louis.

This is great news for the Pageant. Like others here, though, I wish the Orpheum wasn't so underutilized, and the Kiel Opera House wasn't forgotten. And, count me among the many that cannot stand Riverport Amphitheatre or whatever in the hell they're calling it today.

Well, when the Pageant has no competing venues of similar size...



If the Metro and the Vic didn't exist in Chicago, maybe the House of Blues would be number one?



When I see this list, and when I see how many acts pass up St. Louis on a regular basis, this just makes me think that we need another venue.

^

There was talk of House of Blues opening in St. Louis a few years back - they even identified a building on Locust, IIRC. I'd like to see that become a reality.

citysoul wrote:According to the magazine, here are the top ten:



1. 9:30 Club – Washington DC

2. The Fillmore – San Francisco, CA

3. House of Blues – Dallas, TX

4. The Pageant – St. Louis, MO

5. House of Blues – Chicago, IL

6. House of Blues – Anaheim, CA

7. The Wiltern – Los Angeles, CA

8. Fillmore Auditorium – Denver, CO

9. Rams Head Live! – Baltimore, MD

10. Ancienne Belgique – Brussels, Belgium



Strange that U.S. clubs nabbed 9 of the top 10 spots. Nevertheless, way to go St Louis!!!!

Hate to be the cynic but I'm sure that some of you folks have scoffed at other "lists" that cast St. Louis in a negative light. Why then are you happy about this particular "list"?



I wish they would make the Pageant non-smoking. Last year, a friend and I caught a show up at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC which was totally non-smoking and it was very, very enjoyable.



Lastly, I find it interesting two chain venues are mentioned here and they've passed up other venues such as Neomo's in Seattle or the Bowery Ballroom in NYC. Of course, the venue is only half of the equation. I would propose that having the correct match between venue and artist make for an overall good performance. For instance, Kansas, Styx, Aerosmith, or Tom Petty should definitely be enjoyed at the Port, and the Strokes rocked the Pageant. The Walkmen and White Rabbits sounded great in the Duck Room while Yo La Tengo's audio/visual performance was well set at Webster University.

I don't remember when I copied this story yesterday...was it front page news on STLToday? And I mean in the "top story" slideshow on the main page. Because Riverport's #9 designation has some pretty prominent space on the home page. I just iddn't remember if the same hubub was thrown for the pageant yesterday.

The Central Scrutinizer wrote:

ttricamo wrote:For instance, Kansas, Styx, Aerosmith, or Tom Petty should definitely be enjoyed at the Port, and the Strokes rocked the Pageant.

I didn't think it was possible to enjoy Styx anywhere.

Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto.

The problem's plain to see

Too much technology

Machines to save our lives

Machines de-humanize

rencelas wrote:

ben1040 wrote:I know I'm going to get flamed for this, but to me the Pageant feels like an indoor Riverport. Bland with no character. Rock music sounds best in a gritty, dingy dive.

Given the choice between seeing a show at Pageant or Bluebird, I'll take the Pageant any day of the week.



Given the choice of Pageant and Creepy Crawl, it's a little more even (though the location next to Dapper Dan's was way better).

The Bluebird has some of the best sound in the city.