At last week's all-ages Pinback show, Neumo's tried something a little different, layout-wise. Instead of having the entire venue open to everyone, the club put the under-21 show-goers up in the balcony, while the drinking-age crowd could stay on the main floor. It was done as an experiment to boost liquor sales, but ended a disaster, according to some show-goers.
"It's very difficult to do all-ages shows on a regular basis because bar sales get cut in half," explains Neumo's promoter/talent buyer Jason Lajeunesse. "Without taking merch money from bands and a much larger percentage of the door, [all-ages shows] are not very profitable."
Unfortunately, the trial setup didn't go over as well as the club had hoped it would. After researching the show, Neumo's only expected about 30 underage kids, which would've allowed plenty of room upstairs for all the young attendees (although they still couldn't be up front).
"We ended up getting upwards of 60-70 [underage ticket holders]," says Lajeunesse. "It's a little hard to say [an exact number]. With some 21+ [show-goers] wanting to view the show from the balcony, I think it made it more difficult for some kids to see from upstairs."
Unhappy underagers complained that night, while others sent e-mails and left messages on the venue's Myspace page.
"Okay, so what the fuck was the deal with this all-ages-on the-balcony-only bullshit last night at the Pinback show?!!" one poster ranted. "If you're going to do that, at least announce it prior to the concert. I don't know why anyone would have thought that was a good idea. Fuck, if you're 21+, then you can go anywhere you want in the fucking club, so why punish the kids by banishing them to the top floor? ANYONE who wants to see the band they love up close should at least be given the chance to. We all paid the same price for our ticket, right? Shouldn't we ALL be able to enjoy the concert? Think about it, please."
While it might have not been the best idea, the all-ages balcony was just an experiment done in hopes of finding a less financially risky way for the club to host all-ages shows.
"We did a Clem Snide all-ages show and we knew there would be no kids," says Lajeunesse, "but the agent insisted, so we did it. There was literally not a single kid [in attendance] from what I was told by security, so the whole downstairs was no drinks and we received complaints from the 300 21+ people in attendance. You can't win!"
After the Pinback show, Neumo's did its best to respond to the complaints, says Lajeunesse, by offering refunds and tickets to another all-ages show of the ticket-holder's choosing. And while the folks at Neumo's can't promise they won't try the same setup again-with a show that they believe will have a small underage attendance-Lajeunesse says, "I think if we were to do that set up again, we would clearly note this on the ticket, website, etc."
