I hope there’s someone in the know about this. When I lived on Long island I’d look at tour itineraries of bands I like and they’d invariably play in the DC/VA/MD area at both the Birchmere (Alexandria, VA) and the Ram’s Head (Annapolis, MD). We moved to that area 6 years ago. Now it seems whenever there’s a band I like they only windup at the Birchmere. SInce I live near Annapolis I find this distressing. There’s been a similar migration of acts from Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD to Jiffy Lube Live in Virginia.
So, insiders, what gives? Is it strictly money? If so you’d think the MD venues would counter that to be competitive.
It looks like the Birchmere is bigger, 500 vs 300 seats than the Rams Head, and Jiffy Lube is bigger than Merriwether, 25,000 vs 19,000. It seems like with the venue sizes being so much different it would be very difficult to equalize pay.
The answer is Live Nation. For major and mid-level acts, Live Nation basically controls who plays where all along the East Coast and in most major venues in the USA. So Live Nation owned/affiliated venues, e.g. Jiffy Lube Live and The Birchmere, get preference over independent/unaffiliated venues like Merriweather Post Pavilion and Ram’s Head.
Didn’t think to check the capacities. But I think Live Nation is the correct answer. And that sucks because so many acts i want to see have gone to Jiffy Lube. The distance and horrible parking lot choke point make it a non-starter for me. I can’t see getting out after 11:30 and then having to drive 80 miles.