Triangulation

Time for a New York State Fair music quiz.

Question one–What do these musical acts have in common?

Rick Springfield, Grand Funk Railroad, .38 Special, Bad Company, Vince Neil, The Roots, Blood, Sweat and Tears and Jackyl.

If you said they’re all booked to play one of the big stages at the 2019 New York State Fair, that’s correct.

If you said they were popular acts before 2000, that’s also correct.

An evening in 2017 at Chevy Court.

Question two–What do these musical acts have in common?

Alabama, Brooks and Dunn, Vince Gill, Sara Evans, Alan Jackson, Martina McBride, Lorrie Morgan, Kathy Mattea, Diamond Rio, Pam Tillis, Steve Wariner, Lee Ann Womack, Marty Stuart, Suzy Bogguss, John Anderson, Joe Nichols, Rhonda Vincent, Alison Krauss, Ricky Skaggs, Trisha Yearwood, The Whites, Connie Smith, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Gene Watson, Johnny Rodriguez, John Conlee, Tanya Tucker, Janie Fricke, Asleep at the Wheel, Becky Hobbs, Radney Foster, Clint Black, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Ricky Van Shelton.

Yes–They also have decades of popularity playing shows from coast-to-coast. But none of these country acts will perform at the 2019 New York State Fair, although most of them appear to have some  availability during the Fair time frame and several will be touring the northeast at that time.

Several of them are in the Country Music Hall of Fame while many are winners of awards including Grammys and Country Music Association awards. There are probably many more acts beyond those named above that would also be good choices for Fair stages.

A recent news report revealed that Live Nation is no longer booking Fair acts and that’s good news. The Triangle agency is back as the concert promoter, but improvement in results has so far been elusive. With the exception of the rock gray-hairs and a couple of other acts, fans beyond their thirties could add the prefix, “Who-the-hell-is” to the names of the acts booked.

Meanwhile, we’re still seeing few country shows, limited to young acts that flirt with country at best. One hot young act, the band Midland, will be a rare exception at Chevy Court. Otherwise, the loyal country fans who had packed Fair concert venues for decades continue to be ignored.

The big question is, if classic rock concerts can be successfully booked here, why can’t classic country? There is no acceptable explanation for such neglect. Country fans are tired of excuses.