Peter Shapiro Plots The Path Ahead In 'Rolling Stone' Feature

Concert promoter, publisher, and venue owner Peter Shapiro was the latest subject for the ‘Music in Crisis’ series in Rolling Stone. The concert planner extraordinaire shared his thoughts on the immediate future of the music industry in a world still grappling with COVID-19.

The ‘Music in Crisis’ series has talked to musicians, promoters, and fans alike about how the road forward will look. As owner of Brooklyn Bowl, the Capitol Theatre, Relix Magazine, and many more musical ventures, Shapiro shared his wisdom as a bastion of the jam scene.

The piece from Rolling Stone boils down Shapiro’s interview responses and blends them with his biography, a story that is already familiar to most avid jam fans. Bursting onto the scene in the late ’90s when he took over New York’s Wetlands Preserve, which served as the mecca for the exploding jam scene, Shapiro was as good a spokesman as any to speak for the current state of the scene. Unfortunately, like most everyone else involved in the realm of jam music, Shapiro doesn’t have many answers himself.

“No one really knows anything,” Shapiro said. “I’m trying to think obsessively about the future, and you have to be ready for multiple different paths.”

While he may not have any long term answers, Shapiro, like many promoters, has made do with what he has. His Rock and Roll playhouse music school broadcasts child-friendly concerts at 3 pm everyday and last week his new Brooklyn Bowl Nashville, which was supposed to open on March 14th, hosted its first-ever concert with a digital performance by Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires. Shapiro simply said of the pivot forced on the live music industry, “you’re moving on lots of fronts simultaneously.”

As for the path ahead, Shapiro sees rapid testing as the one clear answer. In order to make that happen, in addition to more tests being made available, venues would need to open earlier. Shapiro, of course, is already figuring out the logistics.

“At Brooklyn Bowl we open at 6 p.m. now,” Shapiro said. “We push it up to 5 p.m., so the line won’t be crazy. You go in early, and you can have a meal.”

Meanwhile, Shapiro is also looking further down the road to LOCKN’. The festival, which was originally set for June 19th—21st, has been rescheduled to October 2nd—4th. While he still holds out hope that the show will go on, Shapiro realizes that there would have to be some major changes to the festival that many have come to know and love.

“I’m not giving that up yet,” he said. “I think it would only happen if you took a test to get in. Do I think we could administer that to people who come for a three- or four-day festival? Yeah, I do. You might have to wait several hours. Once you’re in, you might have a mask on inside. We may do reduced capacity, more camping areas. We’re going to figure out all those different kinds of things.”

For now Shapiro, like the rest of us, is spending his time at home. Rather than skulking the floor of his many music ventures, he spends his time playing hockey with his kids on his roof. This is a strange time for a life-long music lover like Shapiro, who says that he hasn’t gone this long between concerts since he was 16.

“That part has been kind of nice,” he said. “But there’s also the stress of figuring everything out. We’re moving shows a lot.”

Read the full Rolling Stone ‘Music in Crisis’ piece here.