Hot off the heels of Creation Entertainment’s The Road So Far tour in Austin, Texas, Radio Company and Louden Swain performed to a packed venue at the Sagebrush on Monday, August 19.
Radio Company, which is comprised of Steve Carlson and Jensen Ackles, were playing the first of two sold-out shows at the Sagebrush, happening on Monday and Tuesday night. Louden Swain, which features Rob Benedict, Billy Moran, Stephen Norton, and Michael Borja, joined Radio Company for the first night.
I attended Monday night’s show. Louden Swain played some of their most popular songs, taking command of the room and had the audience singing along. The band gave it their all, even though it was incredibly warm (more on that, later). Louden Swain always puts on a fantastic show, and this was no different – they have been a band for 20+ years and continue to impress every audience they come across.
There was a small break after they were off stage, and then Radio Company came on stage, complete with a full band. The energy in the room was electric, and the band even seemed surprised when every person sang their lyrics back to them. They played songs like, “Cannonball”, “Let Me Be”, “Sounds of Someday”, “Keep on Ramblin'”, “City Grown Willow”, “Quarter To”, and more, and the audience loved getting to hear some of their favorite songs live.
The bands and the musicians absolutely did their best to put on an incredible show, and they all sounded amazing. However, being at this venue, there were a lot of issues with the setup and the venue itself.
The venue is about twenty minutes outside of downtown. Due to the heat, the venue had rightfully been requesting that fans not line up early for safety reasons, fearing injuries due to the heat. It was set to be over 100 degrees that day. The doors were originally set to open at 7, however, the venue changed the time to 6 to allow fans to get in early. Fans did start lining up around 5, and were let in soon after. The venue is set up as standing room only, with a few tables and chairs littered to the side and the back.
Attendees had been requesting ADA accommodations for those who were disabled, and they were put to the side of the stage behind the pit, blocking any view of the stage at all. Attendees were also standing right in front of them with not much more than a small alleyway to move, so most of them couldn’t see the concert at all, just hear it.
With temperatures reaching almost 102 degrees that day, the venue was not prepared. Walking into the venue, either the air conditioning wasn’t working or it was very weak; it was probably warmer inside the venue than it was outside, and that’s saying something. It was unbearable, and fans were overheating, and I, myself, was even nauseous from the heat. Attendees were trying to find any little spot that would give them any sort of relief, and there were few. There were big fans mounted on the ceiling in the corners aimed at the main part of the audience, however they weren’t on. There were smaller fans to the sides of the audience that were near the tech table, but nothing that really made a difference. It was noticeable that the bands were also overheating, with sweat pouring down them onto their instruments.
Sadly, I left the show about 5 songs in from Radio Company due to the heat and how unsafe it was. I wasn’t the only one, either. Many of the attendees were leaving early due to the heat and even going outside to catch a breath of air — when outside was still in the 90s at 9 p.m.
Overall, the bands were great and did the best that they could, but the venue presented an unsafe environment for many, including myself. I hope that if Radio Company comes back to Austin for shows, they can pick a venue that can accommodate the heat and the crowds.
