Portland Music Hall | Cumberland Avenue

And in fairness to the Portland City Council, this vote was nothing more than a moratorium on large concert venues. It does not mean that the Portland Music Hall cannot eventually happen but it sure creates doubt for any developer considering doing business in Portland down the road. First national chains, then hotels, and now music halls, what will be next? I also wonder if this will have an effect on the rest of the Herald Square project moving forward?
 
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My counterpoint would be that Portland's economy didn't suffer in 2006 when the Council enacted a short moratorium on franchise restaurants – in fact, the city entered a renaissance period for food and dining and attracted a surge in business and real estate investment (and Hooters, which prompted the moratorium because it wanted to open a restaurant here, is now in bankruptcy court).

Besides that, there are credible arguments to be made (and being made by both the Biden and Trump administrations) that Live Nation and Ticketmaster are monopolies in the concert business – and monopolies aren't good for the economy, especially for the industries they dominate.

Plus, Mainers consistently over-estimate how important tourism is to the economy. $9 billion in tourist spending only represents about 10 percent of the state's $78 billion annual economic output. Bear in mind that the previous proposal for this site was affordable housing, which is a much higher priority for the city's economic development. If a concert hall doesn't get built here, something else will be instead – and it'll probably be more useful to the city as a whole.
 
Portlander said:
What is happening to my hometown? Are we getting so full of ourselves as a city that we can now pick and choose whatever fits our current agenda while ignoring change that will benefit the masses over satisfying a few naysayers. The dissidents don't have to attend performances at the proposed music hall but don't ruin it for those who would like to have another option. This venue fills a seating capacity void in the greater Portland market and would not "steal" shows from the Cross (8500), the State (1600) or the Merrill (1900) and would give touring acts more choices.
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I don't get it either. I've said it many times before, the general public should have input on setting policy but not on individual projects.
 
markhb said:
TC, thanks for that... I do know I've seen Amy Allen, either at the Old Port Festival or the Clam Festival, and I do recall Spose though I can't say for sure if I ever saw him. And I'll add in Julia Gagnon, although I didn't know if she counts as poorly local since I first heard of her on American Idol.

But to speak to Portlander's point, I think there has been a tendency, if not a low-key conspiracy of sorts, for Portland to only embrace the avant-garde, Indy scene, and to discourage anything that might attract "the masses." It's not just the music hall; I think similar intents were in play when GMRI wanted to build an aquarium. To steal a New York-ism, the people protesting this don't want Portland to attract the bridge-and-tunnel crowd.

Just my possibly paranoid opinion.
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You hit it on the head and might be the reason that I always felt vaguely uncomfortable on my recent travels into Portland proper. Such a cool place to be but also seems like a high school clique....with lots of $$$.
 
It's probably best that this does get approved despite the outcry. I went to Brit Floyd (The Pink Floyd cover band from England) at the Merrill last night and it was an incredible show. We sat in the upper balcony, and the laser light show component was spectacular to see from up there. But it's a bit precarious on the third level of Merrill with the steep and narrow seating. And then there is the unspectacular food, drink, and merch areas. With this new venue, it will all go up a level in enjoyment. Live Nation will be all over the aforementioned features along with VIP seating/suites.

(You can see the giant pig in the back, to the right.)
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TC_zoid said:
It's probably best that this does get approved despite the outcry. I went to Brit Floyd (The Pink Floyd cover band from England) at the Merrill last night and it was an incredible show. We sat in the upper balcony, and the laser light show component was spectacular to see from up there. But it's a bit precarious on the third level of Merrill with the steep and narrow seating. And then there is the unspectacular food, drink, and merch areas. With this new venue, it will all go up a level in enjoyment. Live Nation will be all over the aforementioned features along with VIP seating/suites.

(You can see the giant pig in the back, to the right.)
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Merrill has alot of issues that the public does not see and it's an embarrassment. Catering is done in a trailer outside because the city refuses to build a kitchen, the loading dock is causing issues and costing money to acts. The ceiling is crumbling, again acts refuse to come to Portland due to the lack of loading docks and a green room
 
PWMFlyer said:
Merrill has alot of issues that the public does not see and it's an embarrassment. Catering is done in a trailer outside because the city refuses to build a kitchen, the loading dock is causing issues and costing money to acts. The ceiling is crumbling, again acts refuse to come to Portland due to the lack of loading docks and a green room
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I didn't know it was that bad. I've worked with some notable music acts and if the green room and dressing rooms are too small or blah, they won't come, or again. Some will use their tour bus. Cross Insurance Arena has this problem too. Many Mainers think that all you have to do is offer them a lobster roll and they'll be happy.
 
Hopefully it goes through, although I wonder what it will do for the planned indoor/outdoor performance space at Rock Row (which was also supposed to be a Live Nation venue). I have to wonder what the alleged threat to local venues is; it's not like they're booking national acts now (even CIA barely has concerts). Portland House of Music isn't going to bring in Sabrina Carpenter and this place isn't going to be hosting a Devonsquare / Schooner Fare reunion concert. If the theory is that, in the absence of popular national acts people will go see Joe's Garage Band at Geno's instead.... go pound sand.

Also, the government has announced a settlement with LN; the biggest thing reported in Maine is that they'll have to divest Bangor as part of it.
 
A new 800 capacity venue/club opens up in the warehouse-like space ($3.5 million renovation) across from Roux and WEX tomorrow night. This will help. And speaking of Sabrina Carpenter, it's not such a remote chance that she could perform here in Portland. Amy Allen, who used to perform small gigs here in Portland with her band, grew up in Windham and writes Carpenter's best songs. They've become BFFs. She's won 3 Grammys writing not just Sabrina's songs, but one for Harry Styles too. Amy could make it happen. Why not? Taylor Swift shot some segments of a music video in Cape Elizabeth. And Drew Taggert (The Chainsmokers and he has a Grammy) is from Falmouth. And Spose has some credibility from a big label record deal awhile back. And maybe mastering icon Bob Ludwig would show up to lend support (13 Grammys). He does all of his work in the parking garage next to the Westin. Bruce Springsteen has visited him here.
 
50% of the state's GDP is generated by Portland and South Portland and the state really needs its one true urban core to succeed. No other part of the state can generate the economic multiplier effects that Greater Portland does. But between this decision (which feels incompatible with LD 772, the vesting rights bill) and the data center moratorium, it feels like the zeitgeist is one in which policymakers are telling those who would invest capital here to pound sand.
 
Plain and simple you cannot discriminate against a business because you don't like them. If the State Theatre was proposing the same project, would it get the same roadblocks? I would ask the Maine Wire to check on the contributions that the State Theatre made to individuals to fight Live Nation including organizations city councilors are involved in. The city should have approved this project, now see you in court will cost the city taxpayers...
 
This is all a moot point as Live Nation isn't going to do anything now. It's going to be broken up as the de facto monopoly it is. From the NY Times two weeks ago, below...

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A year or two ago, I had a chance to talk to someone from Live Nation (a regular employee, not an "official spokesperson") and ask them, beyond owning Ticketmaster, what they actually do. His answer was essentially, if an act wants to go on tour, they can go to Live Nation and they'll set up literally everything... transportation, roadies, the booking, the whole bit. So if the judge wants to go that far (and I haven't read any details on the case), I could conceivably see a three-way split of TicketMaster, venue ownership or control, and tour logistics.
 
Folks, LiveNation has literally been ruled guilty in federal court for running an illegal monopoly, gouging millions of dollars from concertgoers, and drowning out legitimate competition.

First rule of any city's economic development: don't let crooks murder off the beating heart of your city's creative economy.

I'm struggling to understand why our mayor, a former cop, is OK with lying down and letting an illegal enterprise open up shop in the center of our city.

I guess crime is OK if it shows up in a fancy suit and has the backing of the Chamber of Commerce?
 
Well can another corporation/group come in and build the same 3k seat performance venue? No? The city seemed to have voted based on the monopoly Live Nation has going- not on what the current city zoning allows.

Not much buildable/vacant land on the peninsula for a mid size indoor music venue. Maybe SoPo will scoop up AXS or Seat Geek group with cash to build a music indy venue. Regardleas-Portland metro area needs a music venue of 3-5k.
 
It might be time to rethink Thompsons Point for a BBall/Venue depending on the future of the Expo. The other spot I was eyeing was the parking lot next to the Canopy Hotel. Build the garage across the street with a 30 story apartment building, skybridge
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I took the trouble of looking up the actual case materials; the verdict is at https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.621993/gov.uscourts.nysd.621993.1417.0.pdf . This was a civil action, not criminal; the verdict was by a preponderance of the evidence, no one has been convicted of a crime and no one is going to jail. But I am sure venues will rush to drop their contracts with Ticketmaster just like none of of them use Microsoft Windows... Oh, wait, that's not the case, is it?

So far as the creative economy goes, it's not like the Civic Center is drawing dozens of concerts a year these days, and let's not pretend that the State Theatre is the volunteer-driven scrappy space rescued from being a vice den that it was in 1991; that's as corporate a space as any of them. So if "save the creative economy" is secret code for "if we don't bring national acts downtown, the cool people will have to go see Joe's Garage Band at Geno's and the normies from Standish won't come on our precious peninsula and ruin the vibe," I really don't care about their outcomes.
 
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