Boise’s Music Scene Just Can’t Get It Together
Over roughly the past decade, the most popular conversational topic among music fans living in Boise is how the city’s live-music scene continues to build in size and strength, attracting more national acts to perform here than ever before. Locals begrudgingly admit the growth is due to the influx of fresh transplants and the economic boon those newcomers have bequeathed to a city, even if it might forever be referred to as a merely “up-and-coming” place.
All the while, it’s often those same individuals who are quick to spew hatred toward loathsome liberals from California and other evil places that proud Idahoans perceive as threats to the most ultra-conservative state in America. As it stands, Idaho is one of the top five most homogenous states in the country, proving its reputation as a “white flight” haven is as well-deserved as civil-rights journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones described in her April 2019 lecture at Boise State University.
But what Boise’s music community should be devoting almost all its time and energy to is solving the equally saddening and maddening inability of booking agents, managers and venue operators to get their act together. At this key juncture, the failure to harness Boise residents’ excitement about live music events threatens to stunt the city’s aforementioned growth in the near- and long-term future.
Case in point: While there are sufficient music venues to sate residents’ live-music fix, Boise’s concert calendar is frustratingly mismanaged, resulting in double-booking gigs by proven national acts. Even worse, those double-bookings usually involve visiting bands from similar genres, forcing music fans to forgo seeing artists they would almost certainly pay to watch perform were it not for such poor planning.
On a summer calendar that boasts concerts by at least a few worthwhile artists each week, here are some of the conflicts that will limit attendances at shows that would otherwise likely attract much stronger turnouts:
May 17: Show Me the Body, Knocked Loose, Loathe, Speed at Knitting Factory – Ddestined to be the most anticipated hardcore show of the year.
May 17: Starving Wolves, Rumkicks, Crawlouts at Shredder – Admittedly less high-profile than the above acts, this punk throwdown is worth catching if for no other reason than South Korean phenoms Rumkicks are on the bill.
May 31: Gatecreeper, Undeath, Jarhead Fertilizer, Final Gasp at Olympic – Sure, Gatecreeper haven’t played Boise since 2017. But the tremendous reception that the death-metal luminaries received double-opening for Cannibal Corpse and Power Trip at that show will undoubtedly attract many heavy-music fans to witness a repeat performance by Gatecreeper.
May 31: Cloud Nothings at Shrine – By no means a heavy-metal band, the post-grunge noise-makers nonetheless tickle the fancy of heavy music fans, forcing them to make the tough decision of whether to see them or check out the above show instead.
June 16: Pedro the Lion, Squirrel Flower at Visual Arts Collective – While these indie-rock notables swing through Boise now and again, the venue they’re playing this time around is an upgrade and should be a strong draw …
June 16: Belmont, Can’t Swim, Capstan at Neurolux – … unless, that is, discriminating audiophiles choose to check out these promising rock newcomers instead.
July 14: As I Lay Dying at Knitting Factory – The metalcore giants haven’t played Boise in 14 years, so a sellout is almost guaranteed (despite frontman Tim Lambesis’ notorious criminal history).
July 14: Misery Signals at Shrine – As I Lay Dying’s show may very well dampen the attendance at this like-minded band’s farewell tour stop in Boise. If that happens, it’ll be an unfortunate turn of events (so to speak) for Misery Signals. Some may recall the band professing their love of playing in Boise when they unveiled new material at the Olympic in February 2018 following a significant hiatus.
August 9: Built to Spill at Shrine – As Idaho’s most nationally recognized band of all time, Doug Martsch and his backing band will undoubtedly sell out this show …
August 9: Wallows, Benee at Treefort Music Hall – … which will most likely curb turnout at this competing concert featuring rapidly rising alt-rock band Wallows.
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