Nederlander’s Drive-In Shows Accelerate: 45 Events Confirmed For 2020, $2M Grossed

Frazer Harrison / Getty Images – Gareth Emery
The Other Side: Gareth Emery’s drive-in gig at City National Grove Of Anaheim Sept. 18, one of the more active concert venues during the coronavirus pandemic.

With major metropolitan areas still mostly shut down by the coronavirus pandemic, the drive-in concert and tour are continuing to evolve and improve, with Los Angeles-based Nederlander Concerts in many ways leading the charge.

The independent concert promoter and venue operator, with most of its venues on the West Coast including theatres, amphitheaters and clubs, suddenly has dozens of shows taking place or scheduled at the City National Grove of Anaheim as well as partnered shows across the country, which has led to a full drive-in tour with Andrew McMahon and the wilderness.

“Artists at least initially were hesitant,” says Jordan Harding, general manager of City National Grove of Anaheim, who was instrumental along with director of talent Shane Shuhart in developing the drive-in model nationwide for Nederlander. ‘What is this drive-in thing and what does it look like and how does it work?’

“Now we’re 40 shows in and artists are increasingly calling us, asking how they can get on board with this. It’s definitely been evolving over the last several months.”

Those 40 shows rival many normal-year amphitheatre summer season lineups, including everything from reggae mainstay Ziggy Marley, to comedian and recent Pollstar cover story Iliza Shlesinger, to six sold-out Kaskade dates Oct. 27-31, to the aforementioned Andrew McMahon shows, who with special guest KT Tunstall sold out three nights July 10-12 with 775 cars in attendance for a gross of more than $170,000. Added to that are 4,000 ticketed livestreams and another 400 on-demand sold. His tour has continued on to Oceanport, N.J., with another $182,000 grossed, and three sold-out shows in Chicago Oct. 2-4, which grossed another $205,000 according to Nederlander.

The shows have meant a lot to artists as well, with Ryan Raddon (Kaskade) telling Pollstar, “ “Playing in front of a live audience in 2020 was something I had kind of moved from active to passive hope as we have become more isolated over these past 7 or 8 months.

“When the opportunity came through to do it safely and on one of my favorite holidays (Halloween! Yes, I’m still eight years old in my heart) I pulled the trigger without a second thought. My audience clearly was aligned with me because the tickets blew out immediately. I started to see a lot of comments online from first responders saying they hadn’t been able to get them and it was a no-brainer, I needed to add a show just for them. While I know giving them a few hours of entertainment couldn’t repay them for all they’ve done, it’s what I’ve got. Sometimes we go to these shows to celebrate, sometimes we go to forget. I truly hope I gave these heroes a little bit of both and more than anything that my gratitude for all they’ve done was evident.”

Steve Thrasher – Kaskade trade
Kaskade gets a hand painted surfboard by artist Derek Ortega to commemorate the six sold-out shows at the City National Grove of Anaheim in California, produced by Nederlander concerts. PIctured L-R are Nederander

Although the outdoor venue was already in use at times at the City National Grove, the theater and parking lot with the prime location adjacent to Angels Stadium near Disneyland, setting the venue up for drive-ins was a feat in itself.

“It was really a group effort that took a couple of months to put together the planning,” Harding says. “We oriented it in Anaheim at a 45-degree angle to get our capacity to the point where we could be successful. We had to not not only utilize the lines that existed in the parking lot but draw in new squares for each designed space and car.”

“We’ve been able since July to expand and build upon on the model and hone on it further so the experience is as contactless as possible and fans are truly staying safe and enjoying live music responsibly,” Harding adds, mentioning the mobile app Tapin2 as an effective way to keep fans contactless while ordering concessions or waiting their turn to use the restrooms.

Artist managers and agents have noted the difficulty in making the drive-in shows work financially and logistically but are finding a way to make it happen, with full-band and production playing across the country.

“With a lot of these artists it’s not feasible for one night but our focus and strategy has been multiple-night offers,” says Nederlander’s Shane Shuhart, who booked McMahon’s drive-in tour dates. “For us to be able to do it on the veue side, we need to pair one show with another artist for that weekend.” He mentioned Shlesinger one night and folk rock band Dawes the next as an example. “And that makes sense to do.”

As the pandemic has shown repeatedly, the demand for live music is surely there, but getting fans to pay the ticket prices necessary for a drive-in or livestream requires high production and quality content.

“I think it’s also the way we’re producing them,” Shuhart says of the drive-in shows success. “It’s not a traditional drive-in, more of a pop-in concert, with full production, full sound, lights and a real stage. I think the quality is really there for the fans.”