Country and Western Rhinestone Review
Kacey Musgraves
Andrew Combs
January 23rd, 2016
Omaha, Nebraska
Sokol Auditorium
SOLD OUT
At tonight’s show at Sokol Auditorium, I was supposed to photograph Andrew Combs’ opening set. To be honest, I had no interest in sticking around for Kacey Musgraves’ full set. I’m not a fan of country music, which is obvious by the genres of shows that I normally cover, but I wanted to broaden the styles of shows that I cover, and I wanted to use my soundboard to help out an artist like Combs who’s recently started touring out of his native Nashville.
I posted on Musgraves’ and Combs’ Facebook pages to follow me on Snapchat for snaps of the show, which I always do for the artists whom I’ll be seeing. Today’s concert goers are the catalyst for today’s digital age, and using outlets like Instagram and Snapchat are their greatest social tools. Combs’ official page has just over 7k likes, and touring with Musgraves, who’s page is upwards of 800k, gives him the chance to broaden his fan-base.
When I got to Sokol there was no photo-pass at will-call, only tickets to the sold out show. Even some of the venues’ security were surprised the show sold out. After reaching out the Combs’ publicist about the missing photo-pass, and speaking with security to try and reach out to an onsite tour representative, I realized I was getting the runaround. It’s always frustrating when things go sideways at a concert, so I had two choices; Stay for the show, or leave. I decided to make the best of a bad situation and stay.
Fans were still lining up to enter the venue when Andrew Combs took the stage. Cellphones burst to life as Combs’ introduced himself and thanked the crowd for coming early to see him perform. If Omaha had a Snapchat feed, it would have been full of snaps of Combs and selfies taken at the show.
Witnessing Combs’ set was like being in a real life episode of ABC’s Nashville. The crowd’s reaction to his set was something I wasn’t used to being apart of. I’m used to moshing, fists pumping and headbanging. The fans tonight were relatively subdued with their body language. It’s hard to dance around with a beer in each hand.
Combs’ set was a mixture of tracks from his “All These Dreams” and “Worried Man” releases. While Combs’ musical style of country soul isn’t my favorite, the crowd’s reaction was incredible. A few fans were singing along to “Foolin” and “Please, Please, Please” while those not singing along were dancing with their significant others.
While I was still bummed about not getting to photograph Combs’ set, I had moved past the mix up. Until I talked to one of the security guards. He told me that Musgraves’ tour manager decided to take it upon herself to put me on the media ban list for the show and not allow me a photo pass. Only one photographer was allowed behind the barricade, and that photographer didn’t even give Combs the courtesy of shooting his set. Musgraves’ tour manager even told security not to let me fake my way up front with my camera because I was banned.
To make matters worse when I contacted Combs’ publicist about not having the photo pass he’d approved me for, he told me there was nothing he could do because he didn’t have on-site contact info for the tour manager. Now I know that was a lie. Essentially the tour manager was preventing me from promoting the opening act. It’s been a long time since I’ve been disrespected like that.
Honey, I realize you want to maintain a certain image for your artist, but she’s playing an intimate venue in Omaha, Nebraska. This ain’t Madison Square Garden. And I wasn’t even there to photograph her.
As for the “sold out” show? It didn’t really sell out. The venue had to guarantee a sold out crowd to Musgraves in order for her to perform.
This ladies and gentlemen is why I cover real musicians and not wannabe country diva tours.
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EDIT
January 26th, 2015
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The show did actually sell out.
To be clear though, my issues were not nor have they ever been with Sokol Auditorium or Sokol Underground. They’ve been some of my biggest supporters since the first time I photographed there in 2002. Over 100 concerts later and they’ve always been supportive of my art and my voice. I never meant to paint Sokol in a bad light, and if my bipolar rantings about my frustrations with the artist did, I do apologize.
Apparently what I say does matter or my phone wouldn’t have rang this morning. Lesson learned though. Fact check with the venue, not their contractors, and never ever blame the venue for artists’ mistakes.
