Power To The People: What Local Concerts Should We Crowdfund Next?

by | Jun 16, 2014 | MUSIC

As we found out last Friday, the Foo Fighters are coming to RVA as the result of a successful crowdfunding campaign. This is certainly the first time action of this kind has been successful locally–but we can’t imagine it’ll be the last. So who should the people of RVA set their sights on next?

As we found out last Friday, the Foo Fighters are coming to RVA as the result of a successful crowdfunding campaign. This is certainly the first time action of this kind has been successful locally–but we can’t imagine it’ll be the last. So who should the people of RVA set their sights on next? Here are a few pie-in-the-sky suggestions that might not be a total pipe dream anymore.

The Rolling Stones
Some people are going to hate on this, but who wouldn’t want to see The Stones play in our backyard? Other than a recent performance of their classic hits by the Richmond Symphony, the music of the Stones hasn’t graced RVA stages anytime in living memory (though they played the Hampton Coliseum in 1981…). Rumor has it these guys make over a million bucks a gig, too, so it’s a significantly taller order than covering the Foo Fighters guarantee, but while we’re feeling unstoppable in the wake of that campaign’s success, why not shoot the moon?

David Bowie
While we’re at it, somebody start a campaign to get David Bowie into our fair city. We’ve got to get Bowie to tour at all first, though–his last tour was 10 years ago, after the release of the Reality album, and he hasn’t been to VA since 1995 when he played the Nissan Pavilion with Nine Inch Nails. While he did return to the recording world last year with The Next Day, he’s done no live dates since that record’s release a year ago. Still, we can get him to RVA, right? Let’s at least freak out in this moonage daydream for a little while before we move on….

Bjork
Bjork has never played Richmond VA–the closest she came was DC’s Capital Ballroom in 1998 on the Homogenic tour. We’ll never get her to RVA without some sort of group effort. An international icon and art superstar, her career has affected millions around the world. What would it mean for RVA to have Bjork here? We don’t know but you can expect a hell of a turnout.

Jay Z & Kanye West
Every time a mega-huge hip hop tour happens, we miss the big shows. It’s getting old hearing about them from folks in DC and New York. When the Watch The Throne tour happened in 2011, Jay and Kanye went straight from Greensboro to Baltimore, and skipped right over us. So let’s get them back down here to Brown’s Island–because watching the throne is always better when you can do it right down the street.

Faith No More
Faith No More’s 2010 reunion tour took them all over the world, but during that whole trip, they only managed to play 9 US shows. They’re returning to concert stages on the Fourth Of July this year with a show opening for Black Sabbath in London, but somebody’s gotta make a full-scale American tour happen already, right? And when they do, Richmond should be on that list. There are a ton of fans that you wouldn’t even know are fans hiding in every nook and cranny around this city. Lets do this.

Beck
Now that Beck has returned to action with the release of his first new album in seven years, Morning Phase, and an American tour happening even as we speak, someone needs to make him come here! He’ll be in Raleigh on July 23 (you can get tickets for that show right now by clicking here) but damn it, that’s just not close enough! Let’s bring Beck to RVA!

Pharrell & Pusha T
We have no idea why these guys continue to dodge Richmond, but it needs to stop! They’re both from right down the road, and they’re both having career years. Let’s get them booked to represent VA–separately or together, either way is fine with us. Show the Cap City some love, guys!

What other artists would you like to see come to RVA for a show? Do you think crowdfunding local shows is the way of the future? Let us know in the comments!

Marilyn Drew Necci

Marilyn Drew Necci

Former GayRVA editor-in-chief, RVA Magazine editor for print and web. Anxiety expert, proud trans woman, happily married.




more in music

Thundercat Has Entered the Chat

Next Saturday, October 17th, the weird, funky spaceship that carts Thundercat around will land in Richmond for his show at The National. As a massive fan, I will absolutely be there. His is the kind of unique sound that makes a concert a “happening.” A funk so deep...

My First Phish Show in 1994 to Photographing Them in Richmond

In 1994, while in NOVA for high school, a friend who had grown up in Vermont introduced me to a band named Phish around the release of their fifth album, Hoist, and I became obsessed. As a classical-metal-progressive rock music fan, I loved it. My first show was...

Old Grace Street is Richmond History. Let’s Recognize It.

Editor's note: We were sent this petition after publishing: VCU Demolition Blitz: More Richmond Erased HERE. As reported by The Richmonder last week, “The Cultural Heritage Stewardship Plan, which sailed through City Council with a unanimous vote Sept. 28, is intended...

Richmond Has The Talent. Tilt Studio Puts It in the Same Room.

“Richmond has always had this DIY, collaborative spirit, and I think projects like this are a great expression of that. There's a lot of talent here, and when those different creative communities start crossing paths, I think the city gets more interesting.”  —...

It’s Still Our City Ep. 25 | Yavé Rust

RVA Mag and NODDERLY presents It’s Still Our City, a podcast hosted by Harrison Christy and with Clair Morgan as co-host and producer through NODDERLY. "Yavé Rust is a Richmond, VA-based music producer and audio engineer specializing in metal and punk. Originating...

GWAR Co-Founder Chuck Varga, aka Sexecutioner, Dies at 68

Chuck Varga, a founding member of GWAR and the artist and performer behind the band’s Sexecutioner passed away over the weekend following a battle with cancer. He was 68. Varga was part of GWAR from its earliest days, co-founding Slave Pit Studios in Richmond and...

This is Endling

The creative soul of Richmond has been flourishing for years. Within the past two, it’s made itself known through Endling, a creative collective of underground hip-hop artists who have one goal: to prevent the underground from dying. From originating in house shows to...