Neglecting Arizona

While I was reading the “Fall Road Warriors” article in the current issue of Rolling Stone, a few of the upcoming tours that were mentioned had me salivating. Neil Young, one of my favorite artists, will be supporting his new record, Chrome Dreams II, with an intimate theater tour this fall that will showcase both his loud and soft sides, while Bruce Springsteen will be touring with the E-Street Band for the first time since the Vote for Change tour of ’04 in support of his new album Magic. However, both these artists have one other thing in common besides their touring schedules: neither of them will be making a stop in the Valley of the Sun.

Despite being the 5th largest metropolitan area in the United States, artists ranging from Pearl Jam and Ryan Adams to Wilco, Maroon 5 and the White Stripes have been skipping past Phoenix on their latest tours. And not only that, but it’s almost become a trend for some of the country’s biggest bands to not only ignore the Valley, but the entire South altogether, as well. There are several theories out there as to why such big-name, money-making artists are ignoring the southern part of the country like the plague, and none of them seem to make a whole lot of sense.

One belief is that these mostly-liberal, progressive-minded musicians are skipping over normally red state areas because the majority of the Southern populous is made up of conservatives, but this would be really ignorant from the musicians’ standpoint, especially when it comes to Arizona. Not only have we elected a Democratic governor, but Arizona is currently the ONLY state to vote against a bill to ban gay marriage of any kind. Not only that, but the 5th district of Arizona voted for Democrat Harry Mitchell during the 2006 elections, which was a key seat in order for the Democrats to gain control of the House of Representatives. So for these artists to assume that we’re al Bush-loving war-mongers is pretty ludicrous on their part.

Another theory is that artists, especially rock bands, don’t make nearly as much money in southern states, and there aren’t many venues that can accommodate the audiences that they can draw. Well nowhere is this statement more false then here in the Phoenix area. There are plenty of great concert venues with varying seat capacities, from the Dodge Theater and Celebrity Theater in Phoenix and Gammage Auditorium and Marquee Theater in Tempe, to the Maricopa County Events Center in Sun City and the Mesa Amphitheater, all of which have varying capacities and, among them, can suit any artist that chooses to play in the Valley of the Sun.

Regardless of the reason, many Phoenix music fans are sick of being constantly snubbed by many of today’s biggest musicians, and their blue-state only tours and neglect for their Southern fans have many here in the Valley seeing red.

— Jason Shoff