Hurricane Katrina may have wreaked havoc on New Orleans, but its subsequent shift in population has done wonders for Baton Rouge. The population has increased exponentially, the job market has flourished and bigger bands are discovering the venues the state capital has to offer.
In the first few months since Katrina, some big name bands including Trapt, Saliva and Of Montreal have played in various venues across Baton Rouge.
Chris Lunegren, Varsity’s booking manager – days after the hurricane struck – said the reason for this increase in bands is the recent population boost of Baton Rouge.
Lunegren said 10 or 15 years ago bands wanted to hit college towns in their tour.
Satellite and traditional radio changed that by introducing a new way to find where people are listening to specific music.
“Those are based on population now,” Lunegren said.
Lunegren said bands choose cities based on the ratings of their radio stations, which are proportional to the population. With Baton Rouge’s recent population increase, the local radio stations’ ratings have gone up as well.
Lunegren attributes the increase to bands’ inability to hold concerts in New Orleans.
“The Varsity definitely did see an increase in larger shows, such as this Trapt show was originally scheduled for House of Blues,” Lunegren said. “Trapt, Cold and Saliva basically fell into our laps due to New Orleans’ inability to hold concerts.”
Lunegren said Baton Rouge has always been a secondary market, which means it is lower on the list of cities bands want to hit.
But after Hurricane Katrina, the city is quickly becoming a primary market, which bands find more inviting because of the amount of people in the city that can go to the shows.
The Varsity is not the only venue that has seen a recent increase in booking. Spanish Moon has also booked several acts originally scheduled for New Orleans.
Aaron Scruggs, booking manager for Spanish Moon, said having a strong relationship with booking agencies substantially increased the amount of shows that Spanish Moon has booked. Katrina has made it easier to create and nurture these relationships.
“[Katrina] has actually had a very positive effect on my bookings,” said Scruggs. “By me already having a relationship with all the agencies, they decided to pretty much bring me every show that had gotten cancelled in the NOLA area.”
Scruggs said bands who want to play in Louisiana are now coming to Baton Rouge.
“It gave me a chance to show big bands what we can do down here,” Scruggs said. “Now we are getting roughly 70 percent of all the tours that have a Louisiana stop.”
Scruggs said he thinks once a band has established a relationship with a venue, they, or other bands who use the same promoter, are more likely to revisit.
Because of this, Baton Rouge has several more big-name acts coming soon to both The Varsity and Spanish Moon, such as The Hold Steady, Blues Traveler and Ted Leo.
John Bell, the booking manager for SoGo Live, said he thinks differently about the issue.
Bell said Katrina has not had much of an effect on the amount of shows SoGo is able to schedule except for possibly giving them fewer shows.
“You would think that it would [increase the number of shows], but there hasn’t really been a huge influx or change since [Katrina],” said Bell. “Being that Baton Rouge is where it is compared to other cities in the Southeast, it may have actually hurt.”
Bands are going to be less enthusiastic about venturing to Baton Rouge after playing in Houston or Tennessee without the advantages of playing in New Orleans.
“It’s a lot more worthwhile if they have New Orleans,” Bell said.
Bell said he does not think that once New Orleans’ population increases, there will be a great effect on the booking in Baton Rouge.
Scruggs said he thinks even as the population of New Orleans grows, bands will still come to Baton Rouge because booking managers were given the chance to create strong relationships with promoters and some of the bands themselves.
 
Contact Travis Andrews at [email protected]