One of the very last things that happened in Wichita before the coronavirus turned life upside down was a big Blake Shelton concert at Intrust Bank Arena.
It happened on March 11, and it drew a crowd of more than 10,000 people. But almost immediately after, shutdowns were starting everywhere. Shelton canceled the next concert on his tour — a show scheduled for the very next night in Omaha — and across the country, music venues have been dark ever since.
Big concerts and social distancing, as it turns out, just don’t mix.
Now, as businesses, restaurants and other venues continue to open around the country, music fans are left wondering about the future of big concerts. How long will it be before they can happen again?
The answer, managers of local venues say, is about as concrete as anything having to do with the coronavirus pandemic.
Short of a vaccine, they say, it’s hard to imagine getting crowds of 1,000-plus together in one space. Not only that, but big artists aren’t touring, and even if they were, it’s unclear whether crowds would come.
The confusion stems from the fact that many Wichita-area music venues, from Intrust Bank Arena to The Cotillion, are still listing concerts scheduled for July and beyond on their websites. Intrust, for example, still shows Alabama and The Beach Boys performing on July 31.
Though some local venues say they might try to put on smaller shows later in this year, most say they wouldn’t be surprised if Wichita is deep into 2021 before big concerts hit local stages again.
Here’s a venue-by-venue look at what Wichita-area building managers say they’re facing:
Intrust Bank Arena’s box office recently reopened with limited hours, and the venue also will be reopening soon after a long COVID-19 shutdown, said general manager A.J. Boleski.
Concerts are going to take a while longer, he said. Ever since the arena closed its box office on March 20, the calendar has been in flux.
In addition to the last seven games of the The Wichita Thunder hockey season, the pandemic caused the outright cancellation of two big shows, Boleski said: A concert by Tool, scheduled for June 16, and Impractical Jokers, scheduled for July 30
Much of the rest of the 2020 calendar has moved to 2021. TobyMac, originally scheduled for March 22, was rescheduled to Aug. 11 and then again to Jan 20, 2021. The Dude Perfect Tour, set for June 18, now will happen on July 11, 2021. And Backstreet Boys, set for Aug. 21, is now set for Sept. 11, 2021.
“Concert wise, we are definitely noticing a trend with venues, and a lot of the concerts are moving to 2021,” he said. “There are still a lot of concerns, and obviously, they’re very warranted. Restrictions that are still in place across the country make it pretty difficult to route an entire tour.”
A few large events that already have been rescheduled once are set to happen in the next couple of months, though, Boleski said, including the PBR Wichita Classic rodeo, originally scheduled for April 25 and moved to Aug. 8, and the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, originally set for March 13, postponed to June 20 and postponed again to Aug. 21. When those events happen, the arena will adhere to increased safety protocols, including having employees wear gloves and masks and increasing hand sanitizer stations in the building.
But some of the other shows on the books are still in question, he said.
“Everything is still being worked on,” he said, and arena managers are “constantly in touch with the shows we have listed.”
Alabama and The Beach Boys, for example, are still listed for July 31. Cher, who was supposed to perform on April 22, rescheduled for Sept. 30. Def Leppard and ZZ Top are still listed for Oct. 5. And Foo Fighters are supposed to make up their April 18 show on Oct. 17.
Boleski said that tickets to the original shows will be good for the rescheduled dates.
Meanwhile, those who have tickets to 2020 shows should check the website and social media as the shows draw nearer to see if they’re still on. The arena will be leaning on advice from the CDC as it goes forward, he said.
“The event industry was one of the first ones impacted by this, and it’ll be one of the last ones to come back,” he said. “But we are ready to come back and looking forward to it and working every day towards that day when we can reopen.”
The Orpheum Theatre in downtown Wichita lost thousands of dollars in revenue during coronavirus shutdowns. Travis Heying The Wichita Eagle
The Orpheum, Wichita’s historic downtown theater, had three sold-out shows on the books for April — two shows by comedian Bert Kreischer and one by Long Island medium Theresa Caputo.
Each of those shows would have brought in about $20,000 profit, said Diana Gordon, theatre president.
“We were going to kill our annual revenue this year in April alone, and that’s all gone,” she said.
The calendar for the rest of 2020 is devoid of big shows, and that’s because “no one is touring in 2020,” Gordon said.
A near-sold-out show by onetime Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham scheduled for May 9 was postponed to Aug. 4, and now, that show’s been canceled all together. Caputo rescheduled for Oct. 4, and it’s still listed, but even that might not happen, Gordon said.
The 1,286-seat Orpheum will still have events this year, but they’ll mostly be film showings, and those will start in July, Gordon said. Gridiron, the annual fundraiser for the Society of Professional Journalists — which rescheduled from March to Oct. 1-2, also is set to go on.
Diana Gordon, president and chief development officer for the Wichita Orpheum Theatre, says that the historic theater likely won’t have big shows until 2021. Courtesy photo
Those shows will all be socially distanced, Gordon said, with maximum crowd sizes of 450. Groups will have to be separated by four seats. Patrons will be required to wear masks when they’re not in their seats.
Those shows will keep the theater active and working toward its mission of serving the community, but they won’t come close to replacing the money the theater has lost since the pandemic started, Gordon said.
“It’s not going to help us on the revenue side, but it helps us fulfill our mission of being there for the community,” she said.
Because of reserves the theatre’s board had put away equaling five months of operating costs, The Orpheum has been able to keep from laying off its four full-time staff members, though they’ve been taking furlough weeks.
But if national touring acts don’t get back on the road in 2021, that will change, she said.
“We feel like we can hold on until January of 2021 without laying anybody off,” she said. “If there’s not significant artists touring in early 2021, then we know we can’t hold on and we would go on a full shutdown.”
Alex Thomas, left, and Adam Hartke, are wo of the partners who own The Cotillion. Hartke says small venues will need financial help if they’re going to survive. Fernando Salazar The Wichita Eagle
Pre-coronavirus, Adam Hartke spent his days booking acts for his two main Wichita venues — the Cotillion, a 2,000-capacity venue at 11120 W. Kellogg, and Wave, a new outdoor concert venue he opened at 650 E. Second St. in 2018 that can accommodate up to 3,300.
Now, he spends eight to 10 hours a day lobbying Congress on behalf of the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA), a group of 2,000 venues across the country. As the co-chair of the group’s advocacy committee, Hartke is pleading with the government to offer assistance for independent music venues, many of which may not survive another five months if they don’t get help, he said.
“Any folks that do survive without relief will go out of business soon after,” he said.
Both of Hartke’s venues in Wichita are among that number, he said. Wave and The Cotillion, unable to safely put on shows since March, have both faced a 95 percent revenue loss. The closure of independent venues like his — venues that aren’t backed by big corporate dollars — would be a big loss for music fans in the United States, he said.
“That’s why we’re seeking relief at the federal level,” he said. “We want these independent venues to survive as part of the overall touring ecosystem. Without these venues, many artists won’t have a room to play in.”
But most won’t. Like managers at most concert venues, Hartke’s leaving shows listed online until they’re officially canceled or rescheduled.
The same is true at Wave, which had several big shows on the calendar, including Jamey Johnson in July (rescheduled to June 10, 2021).
Business at both Wave and The Cotillion are dependent on venues in big cities reopening to full capacity, he said. Artists stop at places like Wichita as they move between big “anchor” cities, many of which are now COVID-19 hotspots.
“It’s really impossible,” Hartke said. “We’ve tried a million different scenarios with artists to route tours here.”
Both venues will try to schedule some local acts to keep people coming, Hartke said. But those won’t be moneymakers. In fact, smaller shows can result in losses.
At this point, most venue owners are just hoping for a vaccine, he said.
“There may be some shows start to happen this fall, but they’re going to be few and far between and likely won’t be real big concerts,” he said. “Barring any miracles, it’s highly unlikely we’ll see any large-scale concerts until 2021.”
The big concert by The Avett Brothers scheduled for August at Hartman Arena has moved back a year — to Aug. 12, 2021. And another two concerts scheduled for this summer — the rapper NF on July 14 and Bethel Music on Aug. 14 — have both been canceled.
But the 5,000-seat Park City venue won’t be totally empty for the rest of the year, said Abby Marr, the arena’s director of sales and marketing.
There are still a few concerts listed this fall — Casting Crowns on Sept. 29, MercyMe on Oct. 22 and Cole Swindell on Oct. 23 — that could happen. They also might not, depending on what those bands decide as the day gets closer, Marr said.
The venue is hosting graduation ceremonies for Maize high schools and Wichita Catholic diocese high schools in July. And it’s also planning to go ahead with its Air Capital Bacon, Bourbon & Brews event, which was originally scheduled for June 27 but was rescheduled for Sept. 19. For safety, the venue will be spreading the tasting event throughout the building, utilizing its bars and concourses as well as the bowl. They’ll also utilize more entrances and clean the venue more frequently using electrostatic spray technology.
That same plan will be used to put on the vintage inspired Prospectors Market scheduled for Nov. 13, Marr said.
So far, Marr said, the venue has been able to keep its full-time core staff working, and she hopes that can continue.
“We will be one of the last industries to come back, and we know we have a long road ahead still,” she said.
Clint Black might keep his date with the Kansas Star Arena in Mulvane. He also might not. Kevin Mazur
Inside the Kansas Star Casino, 777 Kansas Star Drive, Mulvane
When the Kansas Star Casino closed in March 18 at the beginning of coronavirus shutdowns, managers of its 6,000-seat arena had to look at its schedule, and they moved many of its shows to 2021.
Air Supply, for example, moved from June 6 to April 30, 2021. Third Eye Blind moved from July 11 to July 10, 2021. And Ted Nugent moved from Aug. 7 to Aug 6, 2021.
The casino reopened on May 23, but its arena has only one big show still on the schedule for 2020, said Jeff Babinski, the arena’s general manager. Clint Black, who was scheduled for March 13, moved to Sept. 4, and so far, that show is still on.
“We’re highly regulated by the State of Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission, so we’re kind of playing it by ear...” he said. “We work with, and I continue to have weekly calls with, local and state officials, and from our standpoint, want to make sure that our team members and our guests are safe. We don’t want to run into any issues.”
The Stiefel has eight more large shows listed for the rest of 2020 — shows like Styx and Martina McBride in August and Amy Grant in October.
But Jane Gates, the president of Salina’s 1,265-seat renovated historic theater, said she’s not optimistic they’ll happen.
“At this point, we really don’t know. Nobody knows,” she said. “If there’s a treatment all of a sudden, that could change everything. But for now, I see them one-by-one still rescheduling.”
But Gates said she’s working on plans to start bringing some revenue into the place. One idea she has is to schedule some smaller regional musical acts or comedians who’d be happy to play for crowds of 150. With that size of an audience, she said, she could achieve successful social distancing.
If that happens, she said, it likely wouldn’t be until mid-August or fall. Shows she has scheduled for after January 2021, like Celtic Woman on April 10, have a better shot of staying on the schedule, she said.
“We are in no hurry to open just for the sake of opening,” she said. “When we do open, we’ll be confident we can do it safely.”
This story was originally published June 28, 2020 at 5:01 AM.
Denise Neil has covered restaurants and entertainment since 1997. Her Dining with Denise Facebook page is the go-to place for diners to get information about local restaurants. She’s a regular judge at local food competitions and speaks to groups all over Wichita about dining.
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