Because of our lack in venues, we often get skipped by a lot of touring acts who end up going to surrounding cities like Atlanta, Orlando and Tampa.ĭespite possibly coming off too harshly, I’m so insanely appreciative and stoked that all of the venues we do already have exist, like Rain Dogs, Nighthawks, St. Even Riverside as a whole has maybe three small venues that could support mid-sized, full-band performances. Five Points, as happening as it is, has one venue in the back of a bar, Rain Dogs, that can maybe fit 80 people or so.
Aside from a few places like 1904 Music Hall, any venue that opens downtown seems to close within a year of inception because we still haven’t figured out how to get people downtown. The beach doesn’t even have a proper music venue anymore now that Freebird closed, and while the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall does a solid job of booking good, contemporary shows, it’s a hike to get to for most people.
I think a lot of this has to do with a lack of music venues, especially in our more popular areas. I think Jacksonville falls pretty middle-of-the-road here where, yeah, there are people out every once in awhile during the week, but for the most part, unless there’s some event, which are somewhat infrequent, people don’t come out and engage their city. But in some places, there are five good shows happening within a one-mile radius on a random Wednesday, and the energy is bouncing in-between buildings and off streetlights and you feel it with every step of being within proximity of it all. No one is there, the cities are ghostly until the weekend and it sucks. Are there people in restaurants and bars on a random Tuesday night? Is the allure of the city strong enough to keep people out and about past midnight, despite a probable early work morning and possible hangover? A lot of cities flounder during the week. When I travel, I’m always analyzing cities on how they function Monday through Thursday. It’s about taking a few steps back and saying, “Dang, it would be awesome if we had this. This all isn’t about how much I love this city, which I do, or how much I get frustrated with it, which I also do. And for the most part, when I get home and my head touches my pillow, I feel total relief, but every once in awhile, I fixate on dreamier aspects of other cities I just spent time in, or how unfair of a city Jacksonville can be at times - which is true. Traveling helps with perspective of how different cities function culturally and economically.
I’ve had the privilege to travel pretty frequently for work for the past few years - sometimes to bigger cities, sometimes smaller. Nothing is ever perfect, which is about as cliche as anything I can ever write. I can walk around naked in my backyard with total privacy and comfort. We have trees and marshes and a rich history rooted in Southern traditions and it’s all sweet. And I’d say for many of those seven years, I’ve endured countless people spouting non-credulous things about how they need to “… get the f*** out this city.” I’ve also heard the antithesis argument of how much of a paradise this place is, and sometimes that argument is just as silly as the former. I think I’ve been in Jacksonville for seven years now.