SHOW ME CENTER: COUNTRY MUSIC, CONCERTS A NO-SHOW DURING 1998

When the Show Me Center opened in 1987, a stream of big-name acts came through the door beginning with George Jones and Tanya Tucker on the first night and continuing with Tina Turner, Barry Manilow and many more. The venue was booking 20 entertainment events a year.

"That was our honeymoon period with the promoters," Show Me Center director David Ross says.

Over the years, the cyclical swings of the entertainment industry supplanted the Show Me Center mainstay of rock 'n' roll with country and western music. Garth Brooks, Brooks & Dunn, Reba McEntire, all the top acts came to town. But gradually, that pendulum has swung back again.

In 1998, no country music entertainers appeared at the Show Me Center. The number of country music concerts presented at the Show Me Center has been dwindling over a period of years. In 1997, there were only three: Alan Jackson with LeAnn Rimes, Tim McGraw and Clay Walker.

Country acts like Garth Brooks, Shania Twain and George Strait were among the 10 top money-earners in concert sales last year, but they played venues much larger than the Show Me Center.

In fact, the April appearance by Jars of Clay, a Christian alternative rock band, represented the venue's only public concert of the year. The concert only broke even, but Ross thinks Christian rock is on the upswing and intends to pursue more such concerts.

Booking entertainment has become a cutthroat business for 7,000-seat indoor arenas like the Show Me Center. The arena promotes most of its own events these days -- ever since concert promoters went into the amphitheater business, decreasing the number of winter tours and putting pressure on smaller venues like the Show Me Center.

Ross compares the current state of concert promoting to fishing, as in you should have seen the ones that got away.

A big one who slipped away in 1998 was folk-rock legend James Taylor. Taylor's management was about to choose between the Show Me Center and another venue when the entire tour was canceled, Ross said.

The Brian Setzer Orchestra, currently riding the crest of the swing music wave, also was close to signing for a fall concert before a scheduling conflict nixed the deal. Ross continued negotiating with Setzer's management until he heard the band would be opening for Bob Dylan at the SIU Arena in February.

A Shania Twain concert was a brief possibility early last year because she needed to fill a hole in her schedule, but that one also didn't work out.

The competition from bigger venues and from rich casinos has put entertainers in the position to play promoters against each other knowing their demands will be met by someone.

"It has gotten expensive in terms of us being able to buy," Ross said.

A company called SFX is the current "800-pound gorilla" in the concert promotion business, Ross said. SFX has bought up promotion companies across the country, everything from Contemporary Productions' Riverport Amphitheatre in St. Louis to Bill Graham Presents in San Francisco. The company can buy whole tours or cherry-pick the best dates and sell off the rest.

Ross has augmented the lack of concerts by promoting other kinds of events like a high school girls basketball tournament in December. The indoor soccer tournament recently completed drew more than 14,000 fans to the Show Me Center despite an ice storm and a canceled day of play.

The "Nutcracker" ballet, rodeo and wrestling have become staples.

The Show Me Center still managed 158 events in the arena, a healthy number for any year. Ross says the Show Me Center is still breaking even, a feat 90 percent of arenas don't accomplish.

What the Show Me Center hasn't had recently is the concert capable of hitting a home run, of deluging the coffers with cash.

The Show Me Center's big event of 1997 was a performance by comedian Bill Cosby. More than 5,000 seats were sold, but Cosby commanded a six-figure price. "We didn't make any money but the community got a strong event," Ross said.

He said a family entertainment event of similar magnitude is in the works for this year, along with plans to schedule an alternative rock 'n' roll band and a contemporary Christian act.

The Show Me Center went out of the rock 'n' roll business when the moshing associated with alternative bands raised fears about liability. Now those bands are concerned about the issue and are trying to tone down the rough dancing.

"A lot of new music youths are listening to is showing a lot of talent and promise," Ross said, citing the bands Matchbox 20 and Third Eye Blind.

Meanwhile, the excitement being generated by Southeast's basketball team is helping carry the load.

"Music will spin around again," Ross said.