As the lights go down, a strong push of adrenaline fills your veins, and thrusts itself from your lungs. You scream, holler, jump, or dance. The music begins, and the bass pounds through your whole body. Arms raise, while fingers signal the “rock out” sign. In any other situation you would stare down the next person who came within a 50 foot radius of your comfort bubble. In this situation, though, you could care less about who is next to you, how close they are, and why they would be caught dancing that way. Whether you are a rookie for this kind of stuff or an expert, the thrill is still the same: You are at a live concert.
Although Maine isn’t rich with artists banging down our doors just to play a gig, or stage a concert, lately it seems that the State Theatre has taken Maine by surprise. Since about June, the State Theatre has been booked up with shows almost every weekend. We aren’t talking about “your-best-friend’s-cousin’s-playing-out-of-their-garage-band.” With headliners such as Seether, Chevelle, Paranoid Social Club, and Jimmy Eat World the State Theatre has left quite the impression on Mainers. This left me with just one question, “What was going on last year?” Only less than a year ago, it seemed as if the State Theatre was in the background. A couple shows spotted last years season leaving the few other shows that made it to Maine, at the Cumberland County Civic Center. According to Lauren Wayne, Concert Promoter for Tea Party Concerts, this was due to a lack of bands willing to make the hike up to Maine.
“The line up was awesome this summer, and into the fall,” said Wayne. “Summers in Maine are usually pretty slow, we just happened to have a really great line up this summer.” This may have been partly due to the attention that WCYY brought to Portland, with their WCYY Ten concert, celebrating ten years of alternative rock. This concert brought artists such as 3 Doors Down, and Staind. Whether this allowed other artists to take a second look at Maine or not, it certainly caught our attention. Not only did Maine have an amazing turnout of artists who wanted to play at the State Theatre, but “the turnout was great,” said Wayne. The season in Maine usually starts slow in the spring and summer, but towards the end of August is when we start seeing more shows into the fall. January and February are usually the down season for Maine.
So what is one to expect from the State Theatre in the future? There will probably be a lot of the same shows that there have been in the past and in the present. There will be seasons when it seems that no one even knows that there is a Maine, and there will be seasons when we just can’t keep up with the demand of shows playing in Portland. As for this year, Lauren says we can expect, “tons more shows for fall and early winter, but slowing down in January and February.” It seems to me that our concert seasons are a lot like our weather in Maine: although we try to everyday, we just can’t predict it. Concert season is just going to be one more changing season that we will have to get used to.
According to Wayne, the State Theatre looks forward to a couple more months of activity there, because who knows when we will ever see a spring, summer, and fall season full with shows as this one has?