ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Nearly every weekend this summer — and on a lot of weeknights as well — the sound of music is increasingly filling the air all around Alaska.
“It’s definitely growing,” says Susynn Snyder, the manager of popular Anchorage nightspot Williwaw Social.
Matt Tomter, owner and music booker at Matanuska Brewing Company, agrees.
“We’re seeing an insurgence of live music, right?” Tomter stated.
Cody Herron-Webb, who runs the Akmusic.com website, says he too has noticed more musical offerings in Alaska this summer.
“I think it’s growing. I think ever since COVID, it’s definitely been getting a lot bigger,” Herron-Webb said.
If you think you are seeing and hearing a surge in the number of bigger national acts coming to Alaska this year, you are correct.
More than a thousand people showed up in the rain for the Train show in Downtown Anchorage last Saturday.
Thousands more have shown up for festivals and concerts from Eagle River to the Kenai Peninsula.
Limp Bizkit, Stone Temple Pilots, Rae Sremmurd, and Big Boi have all visited this year, with more national acts — including Matisyahu, Old Crow Medicine Show and Stick Figure — still to come.
Promoters and bookers say the prime genres showing growth are reggae, rock, country, hip-hop, and even comedy acts.
Herron-Webb keeps a close eye on the area’s live music scene through his AK Concerts website.
“I love going to shows and singing and dancing,” Herron-Webb said about why he devotes his time to the effort.
He says an increasing number of Alaskans are joining him at live shows this summer, especially in the post-COVID restrictions era.
“They don’t want to sit around anymore. They want to get out. They want to go and spend time with people,” Herron-Webb said.
Synder agrees from her vantage point of running shows at Williwaw Social.
“This is probably the best I’ve ever seen it in my lifetime as far as the amount of acts that we are getting up here,” Snyder said.
Matt Tomter says he has seen the same thing from his vantage point running the venue at Matanuska Brewing Company in Eagle River.
He brought the Canadian rock band Three Days Grace to the venue Wednesday.
“I think as people get more comfortable being back in crowds, I think it’s just natural. It just took a little bit of time, and then more people are looking to throw shows and put it together because then we got four short months, and if we don’t do it now, it’s not gonna happen,” Tomter said.
But building a successful concert business in Alaska presents unique challenges.
There was a time when big name national acts routinely played the state.
“In the 90s, we still had bands — when they’re going to Japan and to the Far East to play — they would stop here for fuel, and we’d get a night when they’re here,” Tomter remembered.
Now, those planes bypass Anchorage and its music fans, and that’s part of the reason it has been more difficult in recent years to draw national acts.
Tomter says getting those acts booked takes a lot of perseverance.
“You make 120 offers to get six, seven national acts in,” Tomter said.
There are other reasons it is harder and costs more to get national touring acts to unload their gear and tune up their instruments in Alaska.
“Alaska was considered a one-off,” Snyder said. “Travel is more expensive, (it) takes time away from them being on the road system down in the states where they can do Seattle, Portland, and you know, San Francisco in three days. But hotels, I mean, it’s everything.”
It is also the cost of transporting gear, insurance, and promotion in Alaska.
“The amount of time and energy that goes into putting it all together and getting these guys signed up and agree to come and follow up with everything you have to do — when you look at all that time, yeah, I mean, it’s a lot of time,” Tomter said. “But in the end, when you see the place full of people, and you watch everybody having a great time, it’s totally worth it.”
Music promoters in Alaska, and throughout the country, hear a common refrain these days — ticket prices are too high.
Snyder says she hears complaints about ticket fees.
Tomter says all those extra costs need to be accounted for if the public wants bigger shows.
“We’re not into overcharging. We’re trying to be as affordable as we can because we want people to come, but at the same time … there’s a million things you got to rent out here,” Tomter said. “We’ve got 22 Porta Pottys running, that costs ‘X’ amount of dollars per week, right? It all adds up.”
But there are also extras on the revenue side helping to pay the bills.
Ticket sales are key, but liquor and food sales are vital as well. Sometimes, venues earn a cut of parking revenue and often a share of an act’s merchandise sales.
But not every show makes money. Snyder says there is an old adage about the concert business in Alaska.
“If you don’t have $50,000 to put in a paper bag and light it on fire, you should probably not be in concert promotion in Alaska,” she warned.
This season’s successes mean next year might be even busier.
“I think there’s room for a little bit more growth. It’d be nice if we could target bands while they’re getting ready to go on international tours if we could. That’s one thing, we don’t really have the population of the lower 48 to justify some of the weekend concerts for the big crowds,” says Herron-Webb.
Tomter says he is encouraged so far by the public’s response to this year’s offerings.
Asked if he’s thinking about next summer, Tomter responds, “We’re already working on that.”
So there’s a good chance Alaskans will hear even more sweet sounds next year.
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