Gone country: Klipsch becomes haven for Nashville stars

Once the rock 'n' roll playground for the likes of Bon Jovi, Aerosmith and Van Halen, Klipsch Music Center now reserves its weekends for Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert, Keith Urban and their country peers.

The transformation isn't imaginary. More country concerts are happening this summer at the Noblesville amphitheater than at any time in the venue’s 28-year history.

Nashville stars will play 16 shows at Klipsch by the time the 2016 season closes with a Sept. 17 appearance by Rascal Flatts. The previous high mark for country concerts was 11 set in 2013 and 2014.

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To trace the rise of country, IndyStar researched every show presented at Klipsch since the venue opened as Deer Creek Music Center in 1989. For the first 22 years, the country genre made up less than 20 percent of each season's roster of shows.

In 1993, when Bon Jovi, Aerosmith and Van Halen represented three of 31 rock shows, country fans had eight options: Hank Williams Jr., Hal Ketchum, Billy Ray Cyrus, Lyle Lovett, Dwight Yoakam, Travis Tritt, Dolly Parton and Sawyer Brown.

Seven of those acts have fallen off the radar of major-venue bookings.  Williams will co-headline with Chris Stapleton on Aug. 26.

Today's mainstream country stars offer more flash, panache and rock influences than their predecessors. One of this year's country headliners, Darius Rucker, actually was a rock star with '90s band Hootie & the Blowfish.

“Country music is a great live genre," Rucker said when visiting Indianapolis for this year's Indy 500. "Everybody’s putting on the best shows they can. You want to be great because you know everybody else is going to be great.”

Tom Mendenhall, the top local executive for venue owner Live Nation, worked his first summer at Klipsch in 1990.

"In the '90s we did a lot of rock, and a lot of the artists were Q95-oriented," said Mendenhall, referring to classic-rock radio station WFBQ-FM (94.7). "Those shows weren’t a lot different than the country shows today. I think it appeals to our Midwest sensibility. They’re fun, they have hits and the acts are smart to play the hits."

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Three Indianapolis radio stations familiarize listeners with those songs: WFMS-FM (95.5) has focused on Nashville hits since the 1970s; WLHK-FM (97.1) arrived in 2005 and battles back and forth with WFMS in Nielsen ratings; and iHeartMedia-owned WUBG-FM (98.3) is the relative newcomer because of its July 2015 debut.

Jason Aldean, whose resume includes nine chart-topping country singles, said he appreciates the city's abundance of radio exposure.

“It’s cool to go in and have three different stations playing your music at different times during the day,” Aldean told IndyStar during a 2015 interview.

Statistics reveal country's graduation from the margins to front-and-center status at Klipsch. The genre's portion of the venue's schedule grew from 24 percent in 2011 to 41 percent in 2016.

A reversal for the trend appears unlikely. The 24,000-capacity amphitheater's commitment to country is reflected in its "Megaticket" subscriber series within the overall season.

The Megaticket has bundled admission to country concerts at Klipsch since 2003. The Live Nation initiative began modestly, with a four-show package of Kenny Chesney, Brooks & Dunn, Alabama and Toby Keith.

Thirty-five U.S. amphitheaters offered varying menus of Megaticket acts in 2016, but only Klipsch signed on for all 13 participating tours. Venues in Missouri, Virginia and North Carolina bundled 12 tours each.

"Indianapolis is definitely viewed as a really good country market," Mendenhall said. "I think a lot of the acts, when they’re sitting down trying to figure out their route, they’re definitely going to play here."

To get to 16 country shows, Klipsch has its 13 Megaticket acts — Lambert, Urban, Florida Georgia Line, Rucker, Chesney, Bryan, Aldean, Brad Paisley, Dierks Bentley, Brantley Gilbert, Williams & Stapleton, Keith and Rascal Flatts — plus non-Megaticket performers the Dixie Chicks and Zac Brown Band. Bryan's second show of a two-night stand pushes the total to 16.

Overall, business is good for Klipsch. The venue ranked No. 6 for ticket sales among U.S. amphitheaters in 2015, according to concert-industry magazine Pollstar. Klipsch sold 315,388 tickets across 29 shows, for an average of 10,875 attendees per show.

When Pollstar published its midyear list of the top 100 North American tours for 2016, 17 acts headed to Klipsch made the list.

Outside the country genre were Black Sabbath (No. 13, ranked by dollars spent on tickets from January through June), the Dave Matthews Band (16), Phish (38), Dead & Company (39), Jimmy Buffett (43), Def Leppard (54) and rapper G-Eazy (57).

Country was represented by Chesney (8), Bryan (9), Aldean (25), Dixie Chicks (31), Paisley (45), Zac Brown Band (50), Stapleton (71), Gilbert (78), Urban (81) and Bentley (83).

"Drunk on a Plane" singer Bentley, who headlined Klipsch on Aug. 13, said there is camaraderie as well as rivalry among Nashville's elite.

"The guys and girls at the top, we’re all friendly and get along great but you’re competing a little bit out there," Bentley said in a phone interview. "You want your tour to leave a mark. Next week, you have someone coming in behind you so you better bring your 'A' game."

Call IndyStar reporter David Lindquist at (317) 444-6404. Follow him on Twitter: @317Lindquist.