Some of my father’s best advice to me was about choosing a seat at a concert: if you can’t identify the guitar by sight, you’re not close enough. It’s advice I take to heart every March and April, as the local concert schedules start to take shape and on-sale dates begin tempting my wallet.
Everyone remembers something about their first concert. I certainly remember mine. The band was Jamiroquai, known in the States mostly for the music video with the moving room and the song Napoleon Dynamite danced to during a campaign speech. The details are a little hazy, obscured by time and replaced by memories of better shows along the way. But in retrospect, one detail stands out to me: my first concert wasn’t in New Hampshire.
Trans-Siberian Orchestra leader Chris Caffery shows that you can get up close and personal at a big venue, too.
In fact, my fifth concert was my first in my home state, and fittingly, it was at a venue that no longer exists: Singer Family Park, a onetime recreation field in Manchester that hosted a summer and a half of concerts, and was ultimately bulldozed to build the Fisher Cats’ home ballpark. At the time, it felt like most big acts turned their tours around in Boston, so if you wanted to see Dave Matthews or a popular boy band, you went to the FleetCenter, or you went to Foxboro Stadium, or the Venue Formerly Known As Great Woods.
It’s not like that anymore.
Now, New Hampshire has a variety of venues to support concerts of all sizes, from intimate in-your-living-room performances to elaborate full-bore productions. Initially, I wondered if it was merely coincidence that bigger-ticket artists opted to perform in New Hampshire when I was old enough to pay attention. There could be something to it, though. Two of New Hampshire’s larger venues, the Whittemore Center at UNH and the old Meadowbrook Farm, only opened in the mid-1990s. The Verizon Wireless Arena opened a few years later. Before they opened, a venue seating more than a couple thousand was hard to come by. By 2001, booking agents had options in the Granite State for their larger-drawing tours. It’s a far cry from when my folks gathered in Arms Park in the Manchester Millyard for a show thirty years ago.
Obviously, your taste in music will help dictate the venues that call to you most. But here are a few of the venues that compete every year for my entertainment budget, and usually win it over once or twice.
Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion, Gilford, NH
Known for years as Meadowbrook (which I will likely continue to call it in conversation), this is New Hampshire’s premier outdoor music venue. Set in the woods at the gateway to the Lakes Region, the Pavilion opened in 1996 as a temporary stage, then evolved in the coming years to a covered stage and pavilion hosting a healthy barrage of shows every summer into the crisp fall months. The Pavilion was easily one of my favorite venues for years; under the cover of the canopy, I experienced performances by artists I’d always loved (Chicago, 38 Special, “Weird Al” Yankovic) and came to love artists I’d never really appreciated enough (Styx, REO Speedwagon, the Doobie Brothers). Renovations three years ago added another 3000 seats, and since then there haven’t been many artists on the bill to draw me there, particularly since the Pavilion seems so popular with country musicians. This fall, though, Eagles founder and frontman Don Henley takes the stage for a solo tour…and I already have my tickets.
Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom, Hampton Beach, NH
It feels odd not to mention one of the oldest concert halls in the state, and by its name, maybe one of the more recognizable. Situated right on the Hampton Beach boardwalk, the Casino Ballroom tends to cater toward smaller, more “classic” acts with a bias toward rock. Seating can be a challenge; most of the perimeter is set up as tables and chairs, fine for comedy acts but a bit cramped for watching a band. But even the cheap seats aren’t that far from the stage, and being that close to the band means a lot. I took my dad to the Casino Ballroom to see guitar legend Joe Walsh a couple years back, and it was well worth the visit.
Capitol Center For The Arts, Concord, NH
Here, we anxiously await the arrival of Béla Fleck and the Flecktones at the Capitol Center For The Arts.
Managed by a non-profit and supported by memberships, the Capitol Center is one of my favorite venues in the state. The old theater hosts a mixed bill of events every year, from concerts to comedy shows and theatrical productions. The musical selections can be hit-or-miss, but every year, it seems I find something that interests me on the schedule. Last year’s schedule included an appearance by rock band Primus, and in previous years we’ve caught acts like Robert Randolph & The Family Band or Béla Fleck & The Flecktones. And in every case, it’s hard to find a bad seat in the house.
Palace Theatre, Manchester, NH
This is sort of a forgotten venue for me, even though I pass the marquée most times I’m downtown. The Palace is indeed big on theatre, but they manage to work a few concerts and comedians into the schedule every year. The Palace has a lot of what makes the Capitol Center so right, except in a smaller package. A few years back, we had tickets to see eighties one-hit wonders A Flock Of Seagulls; this year, it was swing-revival band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. Both shows were excellent. I’d love to see more concerts here, but I’m guessing most will opt for a slightly-larger venue.
Tupelo Music Hall, Londonderry, NH
Living Colour bassist Doug Wimbish takes the stage at Tupelo Music Hall. Yes, the stage is that close.
It’s an unlikely place to find a concert hall. It’s not near a downtown, it’s not out in the woods, it’s just sort of there, on Route 102, kind of unassuming. But Tupelo is there to redefine “intimate.” The tiny hall has just over 200 seats in a theater configuration, making each show a personal experience with the artist. Naturally, big touring bands aren’t going to come to Tupelo, but an aggressive schedule features a wide range of artists, from one-time pop sensations to frontmen and frontwomen gone solo. Seeing hard-rock band Living Colour from only a few feet away was a heck of an experience.
Jewel Nightclub, Manchester, NH
Living Colour at Jewel Nightclub, 2016. Great show, if I were a little bit taller.
This is the “new kid on the block,” the latest tenant in a Canal Street building that’s seen its share of tenants. The name was a bit off-putting to me, but Jewel’s intent is to be another Tupelo, promising “intimate” performances by popular artists, with an atmosphere more akin to the House of Blues chain. My best friend and I checked out Jewel recently, interestingly seeing Living Colour, who we’d seen a year before at Tupelo. The show was great, the audio quality as advertised. But the stage only rises a foot above the floor, and in a no-chairs, standing-room-only setting, that’s a struggle for those of us who stand five-foot-six on a good day. To be fair, I’d have to see how they accommodate other performances. It’s certainly more of a “rock club” than a “music hall.”
Mind you, that’s far from a comprehensive list. The Colonial Theatre in Keene was a great stop on one of “Weird Al” Yankovic’s last tours, and The Music Hall in Portsmouth has a lot of promise that I’ll get to experience in June when we see yacht-rock crooner Michael McDonald. I still haven’t made it north to The Flying Monkey in Plymouth.
It’s almost too easy now to hear about a great show a few weeks past, then wonder, “why didn’t I hear about that?”
But considering the past, that’s a wonderful luxury to have.
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