Let's get our act together

It's apparently tough all over.

But Augusta may be making it even harder on itself.

Concert attendance was down 12 percent across North America in the first half of the year, according to industry magazine Pollstar.

It may be the economy. But some of us wonder if the dip in attendance is, in large measure, a vote against today's music scene: For many of us, there aren't a lot of fresh new acts that inspire a $30-or-more commitment.

And you have to think it's a statement about modern music that the concert industry is pinning its hopes for a second-half revival on fall tours by aging rock stars Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones and U2.

Don't get us wrong. Those are great acts. But their average age should trouble the industry. Where are the young acts worth a darn?

Not coming to Augusta, certainly. As reported by The Chronicle's Kate Lewis last Sunday, the Augusta Civic Center is having difficulty attracting performers - and then getting people to buy tickets. Three shows have been canceled this year due to lack of interest: Super '70s Spectacular Concert (May 11), Mint Condition and Rene (Aug. 20) and Young Jeezy in concert (Sept. 8).

Young Jeezy sold just 11 tickets.

Coliseum Authority Vice Chairman Dr. Wayne Frazier believes economics stifles many ticket-buyers - and he suggests trying to grow jobs here, especially while businesses may be relocating from the hurricane-ravaged gulf states.

Reminded that singer Alicia Keys filled 2,690-seat Bell Auditorium, Frazier said some acts are worth sacrificing for.

Whatever the explanation, word comes from Columbus, Ga., that acts such as Reba McIntyre, Hilary Duff and Gretchen Wilson are out there for the taking. And while Augusta officials complain that the hockey team takes up prime booking dates, the Columbus facility seems to make room even with hockey and basketball teams.

So why the difference?

The quality of the facility, for one thing. The Augusta Civic Center is cold, old and too small, at 8,500 seats. The center and its image also suffered from poor oversight for years.

You also have to wonder if the center works hard enough to promote events. Manager Larry Rogers, an amiable and experienced fellow, has a they'll-come-to-us approach.

Moreover, Joe Stevenson of Augusta concert promotion business Joe Stevenson Music, says the marketing of shows here falls short.

And Dale Hester, general manager at the Columbus Civic Center, says it's a mistake for a facility to sit back and expect the show's promoters to do all the advance publicity. "If you wait on the promoter to do all the work, you might as well forget it," he said. "You can't bring 'em in if you don't work at it. This is a business. People are not going to come begging me to come in here."

Well, not begging, maybe. But Hester has nabbed business simply by e-mailing the facility's available dates to promoters. Due to the hurricane, for example, Wayne Newton and Kenny Rogers will be in Columbus this winter instead of Biloxi, Miss.

"Me and my staff," Hester says, "we don't sit back."

In contrast, Augusta's Rogers says, "primarily, the promoters call the facility."

Clearly, spending millions to dress up the sagging civic center here, as some have suggested, would be throwing good money after bad: We've simply got to start from scratch in order to get the state-of-the-art facility that will turn heads in the industry and put ticket-buyers in the seats.

Richmond County voters have passed on a new arena twice in the past year, but Columbia County officials are studying the feasibility of building one there.

In the meantime, the Coliseum Authority, which oversees the civic center, needs to go into crisis mode. Anything else would be arranging chairs on the Titanic. Board members need to insist on finding answers to the doldrums now blanketing the facility.

Should the managers be more aggressive in soliciting acts? Should more money be spent on marketing? What is being done to survey the public on what acts it will support?

The concert business is tough enough. We don't need to be making it any harder on ourselves than we have to.