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Concert enthusiast Russell Vaughan can shut his 43-year-old eyes and still hear Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band thundering long into the night at the Assembly Center.

An LSU student for the first half of the 1980s, he saw The Boss cap the marathon performance with a blistering version of “Born to Run.” Four years later, Vaughan camped out all night in front of Goudchaux’s on Main Street to be the first in line to buy tickets for that Springsteen show, too.

Vaughan’s closet today remains a laundry list of who’s who in rock ‘n’ roll. Rush, The Who, Van Halen, AC/DC, Billy Joel t-shirts all purchased at concerts held in the Capital City.

Shirts and memories are about all there is now for the computer programmer.

“I caught Kid Rock at the River Center recently,” Vaughan says. “It’s not the same energy you had back then.”

Springsteen will play Jazz Fest, a last-minute surprise and treat for fans, but it’s no surprise he’s not playing Baton Rouge, too. It’s been a long time since we rock-n-rolled with the likes of music legends.

With U2, Bono performed at the LSU Assembly Center on Thanksgiving Night, 1987

So, what changed? How did Baton Rouge’s once-thriving concert scene fall victim to the cruel economics of the music business? And could the Big Show ever return?

Take Coldplay, for example. Its latest U.S. tour included 31 dates, all in large arenas such as The Forum in Los Angeles and the United Center in Chicago.

Stephen Rehage, a former LSU football player and founder of New York and New Orleans-based Rehage Entertainment, blames the industry. “There’s very few big name stars that can sell out arenas consistently,” Rehage explains. Rehage Entertainment produces the Voodoo Music Experience in New Orleans and deals with major acts such as Eminem, No Doubt and Nine Inch Nails on a regular basis. The biggest trend, Rehage says, involves bands playing a more House of Blues-type format.

“You don’t have to go out and play arenas anymore,” Rehage says. “Everyone else is club-level to theater—even big names will play club dates to get the buzz up. If that’s successful, they come out with a bigger tour.”

Glenn Menard, general manager of the Louisiana Superdome and the New Orleans Arena, agrees there are few acts today who can completely fill the arenas of yesteryear, and festivals such as Rehage’s Voodoo Music Experience can stop acts from playing venues in the area.

“If Paul Simon goes to Jazz Fest, he’s not going to play any market in Louisiana for a while,” Menard says.

Stuck between two hard-rocking places

Even when Springsteen and other big name bands do come back through Louisiana, Vaughn and other fans have come to accept The Boss is probably going to play New Orleans—or maybe even Lafayette.

Tim McGraw and Cher came through Baton Rouge in 2004, and the River Center only had one major concert last year, a November concert by rock group 311.

By contrast, the New Orleans Arena had 70 major touring acts come through since opening in 1999. The Arena held 17 concerts in 2004 and only four concerts in 2005, a year cut short by Hurricane Katrina. Included in the Arena’s repertoire of artists are Eric Clapton, KISS, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, R. Kelly and, of course, Bruce Springsteen.

Martina McBride and Motley Crue visited Baton Rouge recently; but one week before McBride’s concert, ticket sales had not even broken 4,500.

Pat Benatar gave BR her best shot in 1980.

Comparably, Freeman says tickets for March’s Rascal Flatts concert at Lafayette’s CajunDome sold out in just one day.

The Capital City is now caught between two markets with major concert-attracting arenas, says Menard.

“Dynamics have changed since the days when>> the PMAC [LSU’s Pete Maravich Assembly Center] was the spot between Houston and Atlanta,” says Menard, who was a promoter in Lafayette during the ’70s and ’80s. “Baton Rouge was a must-play.”

Before the New Orleans Arena, if a major concert wanted to play New Orleans, the artist either had to be able to fill the Superdome or accept the constraints of the UNO Lakefront Arena, which holds fewer than 10,000.

The LSU Assembly Center was the venue for Louisiana for many years. Its opening in 1971 was followed by the Superdome in 1975 and the UNO Lakefront Arena in 1983.

“The [New Orleans] Arena has fulfilled that spot,” Menard says. “We can draw more than UNO and less than the Superdome.”

Subsequently, Baton Rouge has been factored out of the equation. The opening of the 13,000-seat Lafayette CajunDome in 1984, coupled with the New Orleans Arena in 1999, has placed Baton Rouge smack dab in the middle of two different markets, Menard says.

Lafayette and New Orleans are just far enough away from each other to be considered separate markets. Lafayette’s reach into Acadiana could be more attractive to specific artists, as evidenced by recent country concerts featuring Toby Keith and Rascal Flatts.

Risky business

While the golden age of touring music that was the 1970s and 1980s is decidedly over for Baton Rouge, it’s not all New Orleans’ fault.

The facilities in Baton Rouge can’t really compete, either.

The Baton Rouge River Center, which director Alan Freeman says has around 8,000 seats for concerts, isn’t the most attractive venue. Built in 1977, it’s old and is in need of renovations, some of which Freeman says are coming.

Freeman, who spent time at similar venues in Houston and Memphis before coming to Baton Rouge, attributes the decline of River Center concerts to inconsistency in ticket sales.

“Some shows have done really well here, and some shows have not,” Freeman says. “There’s a risk.”

Baton Rouge does have a few promoters, and Freeman just returned from>> a trip to Houston where he tried to garner interest from new concert promoters.

Freeman says New Orleans-based production company Beaver Productions is the only big-time promoter working with the River Center, although there are local promoters just starting up.

Freeman says Lafayette is a strong concert market, and his facility doesn’t have the ability to provide downside protection for promoters and artists. If the River Center had amenities such as luxury boxes and a facility-owned parking garage, he could use revenues to sweeten the pot to make sure promoters and artists made more money.

Doug Thornton, regional vice president for SMG, the company that manages both the River Center and the New Orleans Arena, says downside protection is key in attracting artists.

“We have to become competitive with the types of deals we structure just to compete for the date,” he says.

Baton Rouge does have one relatively up-to-date venue, the newly renovated Pete Maravich Assembly Center. PMAC Acting Director Brendan Fouracre says the building is still listed in all the publications as a viable venue for future concerts, but scheduling problems often plague efforts to bring concerts to campus.

“A promoter might call tomorrow and say he needs this date; but being an athletic facility, we are dedicated to athletics like men’s and women’s basketball,” says Fouracre. “We have to facilitate all those events. Any campus event that wants to come>> in here gets the opportunity to come as well.”

Earlier this year, a promoter wanting to bring Bon Jovi to the PMAC called Fouracre with one date in mind. That date was reserved. No Bon Jovi.

If only …

From Elton John to the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin and U2, the biggest names in rock ’n’ roll and R&B came through the Capital City in the days when Baton Rouge dominated as the primary music venue for Louisiana. Where those big concerts went is a question Baton Rouge Area Convention and Visitors Bureau President Paul Arrigo gets regularly.

In the face of massive changes in the music industry and the way bands market themselves, bureau statistics show Baton Rouge stands less of a chance of booking top tier acts when the city has only the River Center and the occasional dates at the Assembly Center to offer. But what about the future? Would a new facility make a difference?

The answer may lie in Little Rock. SMG also manages the Alltel Arena in North Little Rock, Ark., a similar-sized market to Baton Rouge. The 18,000-seat arena was built in October 1999 after Pulaski County raised more than $84 million through a one-year sales tax increase, corporate sponsorships and the sale of luxury suites.

The arena held 19 concerts in 2005. In March, it hosted the Southeastern Conference women’s basketball tournament. A week later, The Rolling Stones.

Michael Marion, the Alltel Arena’s general manager and a former Los Angeles-based booking agent, says he is fortunate to be the only major venue in Arkansas, but a new, bigger building could bolster the Baton Rouge>> market.

“If Baton Rouge had a big building, they’d be getting a lot more shows,” Marion says. “If you’re Tim McGraw and Faith Hill and you’re going from Atlanta and Dallas, you’re going to play Nashville, Birmingham, Little Rock. They all have big buildings and can make a lot of money.”

However, a December 2000 report commissioned by the Baton Rouge Area Convention and Visitors Bureau examined the market demand for a renovated or new arena in Baton Rouge. Because the Capital City has no major sports tenant and is situated in a highly competitive market, the report finds a new arena would not be self-sustaining.

Furthermore, the report says LSU’s commitment to the PMAC also rules the university out of a new arena project for the short term. A new arena could cost upwards of $100 million, according to Freeman.

The report concludes the market could not support a new arena in the short term but recommends the city and LSU discuss jointly pursuing a new arena that would suit the long-term needs of both entities.

Van Halen in its prime at the Centroplex in 1981.

“The number one thing you would need to make something like that work would be a permanent tenant, like LSU,” Arrigo says.

A new arena with state-of-the-art amenities may not be the short-term answer, but it could be the long-term key to bringing more top entertainment to the area. It could be equipped with box seats, adequate parking and other amenities found in newer structures to attract major touring acts and sporting events such as an NCAA regional basketball tournament.

For now, Vaughan and his contemporaries who lived in Baton Rouge in the 1970s and 1980s must rely on memories. Van Halen, Garth Brooks, REM and Radiohead performed in Baton Rouge because, at the time, the River Center and Assembly Center were new and attractive and offered higher guaranteed takes compared to similar venues in Lafayette and New Orleans.

Unfortunately, local venues have lost pole position to the New Orleans Arena and the Cajundome. As Louisiana’s largest city, Baton Rouge has a chance to lure more marquee artists, but building a new luxury venue for major concerts and some LSU athletics or hiking ticket prices for local concerts may be the only ticket that allows Baton Rougeans to rock on.