All around Louisville, there are bands who have less than 5,000 listeners on Spotify, yet they deserve so much more. The lack of exposure is probably because their performances don’t attract nearly as many as mainstream performers.
Places such as Zanzabar and Spinelli’s Pizza in the Highlands hold concerts of sorts for local/smaller bands that roll through Louisville. Consisting of bands like Melee, Sharp Stars, Tabs, Surfaced, Deady, Antithesis, and so many more, these bands have very unique sounds for acquired tastes. Although they may not be your specific taste, the shows are still fun to go to and the music is enjoyable.
The issue, however, is that these bands have very low amounts of monthly listeners across all platforms. This makes sense because these venues are much smaller than bigger arenas, but the environment is also better. When you go to a typical concert in a large venue, you end up paying possibly hundreds of dollars for a single ticket, and often have to travel an hour or two away to get to your venue. These smaller venues in Louisville, however, often cost less than $30 to get into, and they’re just across the bridge.
You also get something like four or five bands for the price of one. These venues often hire more than one band to play over the night, which means these shows can last anywhere from two to five hours long. These shows happen on the weekends most often, but you can find shows that happen on weekdays.
These shows are also good for people who have trouble with extremely large groups. At large concerts, you would be in a huge place with thousands of people, which still causes the feeling of being cramped into a tight space. However, at these smaller shows, you’re in a small place with 20-50 people, which could still cause the cramped feeling as these small shows are held on small stages and sometimes even garages, but it’s a lot less than thousands of people in one place.
However, there are some cons that come with these shows. The number one thing is that these concerts are very genre biased. A lot of these venues host bands whose genre teeters from hard rock to hardcore punk, and obviously not everyone is interested in that kind of music. Sometimes, you are able to find some underground rappers or DJs who host events in which you have hip hop and different genres of EDM, but along with that comes the fact that these venues hire more than one artist per show, so just because one artist you want to see is there doesn’t mean you’ll enjoy the rest of them.
Another issue is the mosh pits. If you don’t know what moshing is, it’s a rather violent way of “dancing” that typically only happens at metal or rock concerts, but sometimes you can see people moshing at raves as well. Moshing involves kicking, punching, shoving, jumping, running around in a circle (referred to as a circle pit), and bumping into other people on purpose. It’s not for everyone, and I know plenty of people who have gotten hurt during them, though the worst injury I’ve seen (so far) is a concussion. Obviously, at these shows, you don’t have to jump in the pit, but be aware of where you’re standing and don’t get too close to the stage. There’s a high possibility that you could get hit and trust me, it hurts.
Of course there’s many ways to find out about these shows through various pages on social media, but the best place to start is 502shows and showsintheville on Instagram. Both users post multiple flyers a day for different shows around Louisville. The only issue is 502shows mainly posts hardcore metal shows around Louisville, and these can get pretty expensive. The most expensive ticket I’ve seen so far is $25 for only 4 bands. The other page, showsintheville, posts flyers of any genre, but they often miss a few flyers, which is okay because you can’t really expect them to find every single flyer and post it. Another great option is to follow the local band pages, because they always post their flyers beforehand and would most likely be a better source than repost pages. Other than that, you could try to find my Instagram page and I will attempt to give out as much show information as I can every weekend.
I love going to these local shows. I usually go to at least one every weekend, and I cannot say I have regretted going to a single one. Except maybe the ones I’ve gone to on school nights, but to each their own, right? I enjoy metal a lot so these shows are very fun to me. The moshing, hanging out with friends, getting to meet band members and new people at these shows, it’s all very memorable and has made my life a lot less dull. These experiences have added a lot more to my life, and they’re so much cheaper, easier, and better than bigger concerts. Come out to one and give these people the support they deserve – Don’t forget your ear plugs!
