{"id":455687,"date":"2026-09-06T21:00:34","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T21:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/455687\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T21:00:34","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T21:00:34","slug":"concert-giant-live-nation-has-set-its-sights-on-downtown-what-that-means-for-live-music-in-san-diego","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/455687\/","title":{"rendered":"Concert giant Live Nation has set its sights on downtown. What that means for live music in San Diego"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>San Diego\u2019s old Wonder Bread factory (Photo by Tessa Balc\/ Times of San Diego)<\/p>\n

Live Nation\u2019s new venue could give your favorite band more options when it comes to playing in San Diego. But it probably won\u2019t help you much as a consumer.<\/p>\n

The entertainment giant announced Aug. 17 that it\u2019ll be converting San Diego\u2019s old Wonder Bread factory located on the outskirts of East Village. Just days before the announcement, an independent venue Brick by Brick closed its doors and the Bancroft in East County announced it would do the same.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But on the whole, those in the industry say San Diego has a relatively healthy music venue ecosystem, though cost-wise, like everywhere else, it has become more challenging for fans. The proposed Live Nation site, though, fills one particular gap.<\/p>\n

In downtown alone, there are six live music venues, not counting symphony halls and bars that invite artists to play. Four of these \u2014 The Quartyard, the Casbah, Music Box and the Rady Shell \u2014 are independent. Gallagher Square and the House of Blues are the other two corporate venues.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Justin Navalle is a managing partner at the Quartyard, Tim Mays is behind the Casbah and Joe Rinaldi helps run the Music Box. They all said they\u2019re not fazed by Live Nation\u2019s announcement, in terms of what it means for their own businesses. But they do question what it means for the consumer.<\/p>\n

Another player in town<\/p>\n

A new music venue in San Diego means more live music in San Diego. With this particular venue coming in at 4000 seats, it presents an opportunity for certain artists \u2013 those who might not be able to sell out the Rady Shell on their own, but are too big for the House of Blues.<\/p>\n

This new mid-sized capacity , Rinaldi said, could be a good thing for everyone else in town. As he sees it, it creates more opportunities for artists to grow their audiences.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe more people will play Music Box because they want to be in the game in this market,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Wonder Bread sign on the outside of the building set to become a Live Nation venue (Photo by Tessa Balc\/Times of San Diego)<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore you\u2019d have to jump from basically 1500 [seats] all the way up to 6000 in this market until you\u2019re at Open Air or Rady, and that doesn\u2019t happen organically. That generally happens through being carried on other people\u2019s tours.\u201d<\/p>\n

The prospect of growth for independent venues in San Diego is a bright spot. Operating an independent venue, all three say has never been easy, but it was particularly challenging in the wake of COVID.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Consumer behavior has shifted in notable ways. For one, Mays said, people don\u2019t really purchase walk-up tickets anymore. Most tickets sold are in advance. His best guess as to why: People are tightening their belts as virtually everything gets more expensive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

All three operators said that over the past couple of years, the percentage of people not showing up for a show after buying a ticket has noticeably gone up, too. Navalle and Rinaldi attribute the issue to online ticket scalpers and how they have used search engine optimization tools to appear before concert venues in search results when someone looks up a show. Regardless, it hurts their bottom line with fewer people to spend money at concessions and merchandise tables.<\/p>\n

The cost of opportunity<\/p>\n

Navalle believes, particularly when it comes to venue sizes introduced into town, growth shouldn\u2019t be stopped. But by nature of Live Nation\u2019s business model, he fears that despite the new opportunities the venue will create, others will shrink.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the rules that [Live Nation] plays by that concern me the most,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not an equal playing field when an independent venue can\u2019t even bid on the same artist because there\u2019s a blackout rule and when agencies won\u2019t really work with you because they have a relationship with these larger companies,\u201d Navalle said.<\/p>\n

In April a federal jury in New York found Live Nation, along with its parent company Ticketmaster, to be a monopoly due to\u00a0 inflating ticket prices for consumers and snuffing out competition. Particularly through<\/a> practices like requiring artists to sign exclusive contracts, not allowing them to work with other venues, in order to play at Live Nation\u2019s own venues. At this time the verdict hasn\u2019t led to any material changes in how the company conducts its business.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Regardless, people want to see their favorite bands.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re gouging you on merch. They\u2019re gouging you on resale tickets. They\u2019re gouging you on parking. They\u2019re gouging you on concessions. They vertically own everything. And you know, I\u2019m still gonna go see Thee Sacred Souls [at Gallagher Square] tomorrow,\u201d Navalle said of the San Diego band\u2019s Aug. 28 show.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEven your favorite artists are kind of wrapped up in this whole thing,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Mays sees it the same.here\u2019s not really a choice for the consumer once you get to a venue equal to or larger than the proposed Wonder Bread spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they really like an act, they\u2019ve got to bite the bullet. And, people do,\u201d Mays said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Diego\u2019s old Wonder Bread factory (Photo by Tessa Balc\/ Times of San Diego) Live Nation\u2019s new venue…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455688,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[75987,330,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-455687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-live-nation","tag-music","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}