Throughout the 30-plus years that Duffy’s Tavern has had live music, a good percentage of those who come to the O street bar aiming to get a fishbowl or a beer turn around at the door when they’re told there is a cover charge for the show.
That, however, hasn’t been happening much since Duffy’s reopened this spring.
“We’re all kinds of things, a college bar, a downtown bar, a music venue,” said Dustin “Duff” Hunke, who books bands for Duffy’s. “So I get why people don’t want to pay a cover. Since we’ve come back, people haven’t been doing that. They’re coming and paying the cover. It’s just $5 and they seem to want to hear the music.”
And its doesn’t much matter whether the band is a touring outfit from out of town or a Lincoln band, who have done most of Duffy’s 2021 shows. And it also doesn’t matter whether the music is metal or Americana or anything else for that matter.
“People are just filling venues for any type of live music,” Hunke said. “It’s not just Duffy’s. That means I’m paying bands lots of money. I love that feeling.”
Duffy’s and the four other downtown music venues -- Zoo Bar, 1867 Bar, Bodega’s Alley and the front room of the Bourbon Theatre, should be full this weekend for Lincoln Exposed Redux, the annual showcase of Lincoln bands that moved from February to July because of the pandemic shutdown.
But even more encouraging is the fact that Lincoln shows set for the next couple months are selling well -- and not just the Garth Brooks show that will fill Memorial Stadium on Aug. 14.
Next week’s Ashley McBryde Bourbon show is a sellout. So is the Aug. 11 Pinewood Bowl concert by the Avett Brothers and WIllie Nelson. And tickets for the Lincoln on the Street shows featuring Rancid and the Dropkick Murphys and Limp Bizkit are selling well.
That bodes well for a strong later summer and early fall as Lincoln rebounds from the virus shutdown.
At some point, I’m guessing the fishbowl crowd will again turn away from Duffy’s and the venues won’t fill up. But, the fact that they’re paying a cover these days signals that even the most casual of music fans want shows to come back.
Music 'Through the Lens'
If you’re remotely interested in music photography, PBS has begun airing “Icon: Music Through The Lens,” an enlightening series that looks at the top music photographers from the ’60s to today and shows some of their iconic work -- be it photos for album jackets, magazine covers, the internet or live shots.
“On The Road” the second episode, airing on Nebraska Public Media at 8 p.m. Friday, looks at live photography with a special tribute to the late, great Jim Marshall, the gun-toting photographer who created many of rock’s iconic live performance images.
It also features greats like Bob Gruen, talking about how he learned to shoot at CBGB, the legendary New York home of punk rock and lets some ‘60s veterans recount stories of shooting their now-famous pictures and of life on the road when photographers were treated like members of the band.
That came to a screeching halt in the late ’80s/early ’90s when “pits” at big concerts began to fill with photographers, whose giant lens, musicians say, are distracting and whose presence separates the band from its fans.
So standard concert photo policy -- as Journal Star photographers can attest - is the first three songs of a show, no flash. That might be good for the bands, who keep their images nonsweaty and well composed, and for the fans, who don’t have to try to look over the photogs.
But the photographers argue, and I agree, that it’s dramatically impaired live shots by preventing photographers from capturing THE moments in concerts, which always happen well after the cameras are put away.
You can catch up on the series by streaming episode one from the Nebraska Public Media website. If you want to know how and why music photography, primarily of the rock variety, looks the way it does, “Icon: Music Through the Lens” is a fascinating watch.
Updated: Lincoln bands you should see live
Death Cow
Red Cities
Universe Contest
Tucker's August
Stonebelly
AM/FM
Josh Hoyer and Soul Colossal
402
Mezcal Brothers
Malpractice
Dylan Bloom Band
Out Loud
Ghost Town Radio
Acoustic Rooster
VOTA
Big Daddy Caleb & The Chargers
The World Without Us
Reach the writer at 402-473-7244 or kwolgamott@journalstar.com. On Twitter @KentWolgamott
Patrons gather at Duffy's Tavern for Lincoln Calling in 2018. The bar, which closed temporarily because of the coronavirus pandemic, has seen its crowds for live music return stonger than ever this spring.