mLive.com: Bill Chapin
The Jackson Downtown Development Authority reports that about 1,000 people attended the free, outdoor concert Friday at the Riverwalk Amphitheatre featuring hard-rock bands Egypt Central, Ashes of Soma, One Man’s Opinion and Anarchy. And if you don’t believe them, they have the photos to prove it:
According to the press release that accompanied these photos, “Food vendor, Hot Dog in Paradise, could barely keep up with the crowd.” Tim Corser - president of Kings of Rock Entertainment, which organized the show - was quoted thusly:
“It was an amazing turnout and it really shows the potential for downtown Jackson. People came from all over to experience this event and we can do a lot more like this.”
Translation: You can bet that the DDA will be working with Corser again next summer.
When the DDA launched the downtown concert series in 2004, the idea was to have live music every Friday night from June to August. By 2008 that plan had been dialed back to just four concerts for the entire summer. This year Budweiser backed out as the financial sponsor for the series, citing dwindling audiences. The DDA ponied up enough of its own money to put on two concerts, but the focus would be on out-of-town bands in an bid to boost attendance. Looks like it worked.
I’ll admit, I was a little skeptical that Egypt Central would be able to draw this many people. The Memphis hard-rock band has had some limited success on the Billboard charts — the band’s independent, self-titled CD showed up at No. 8 on the Top Heatseakers chart, which ranks “best-selling albums by new and developing acts, defined as those who have never appeared in the top 100 of The Billboard 200,” in early 2008 - but even their biggest fans wouldn’t argue that they’re a household name yet.
I’m glad that my skepticism proved to be ill-informed. With ever-diminishing opportunities to hear live music in Jackson, successes like this are good news. And it’s always nice to see crowds downtown.
With these photos in hand, I bet the DDA will have a better shot at convincing someone to sponsor the series. Maybe Budweiser, maybe somebody else. And hopefully that will mean more than just a pair of concerts in 2010.