I kicked off my career in live music when I agreed to an internship at the Westcott Theater during college. I spent a good few months mastering the craft of crossing off a will-call list and stamping the backs of people’s hands (we didn’t always give you a ticket).
After graduation I took on a full-time gig there, getting myself into anything I could – ticketing, graphic design, marketing, even occasionally bartending. I found a home in that venue and colleagues that turned into family. I detoured to New York City for a year in 2015 and then came crawling back to Syracuse, NY, when I was offered the marketing role for Creative Concerts by my idol and favorite person in the world, Chuck Chao.
My time with Creative was spent marketing various kinds of shows with the best of the best in the live music industry. I
look up to just about every single person I got to work with on any given show day – they were, and still are, the A-Team.
Shows with Creative had so much heart behind them, probably because we all poured ours into putting them on. I know it shined through to all the concertgoers too. We made magic happen in just about any place or space someone could envision a stage – from sheds, to breweries, apple orchards, and more. Thanks to this team I was even lucky enough to work behind the scenes at the New York State Fair, where we had two legendary acts take the stage each day and I got to eat Swedish Fish with a Beach Boy prior to him going on. From Creative Concerts I went to Live Nation, to show off all I had learned during my time in Upstate New York with Chuck and the Pirate Crew.
In the years leading up to COVID-19 I was working out of New Orleans, Louisiana, as the marketing manager for the amphitheater and arena division of Live Nation. I was a workaholic, either late at the office prepping for upcoming shows and/or at the concerts, almost every night. I marketed shows throughout the state of Louisiana, Memphis, TN, Southaven, MS and Biloxi, MS. On any given night we could have three arena shows at once, our staff spread thin across multiple cities in order to make it happen for all the fans who purchased tickets.
About a week prior to COVID-19 really “hitting the ground running” I closed the door on my US Concerts marketing position, by choice, with Live Nation to move onto a new chapter in life – moving to Nashville and pursuing a new job in the live music industry.
On the morning of March 12th, I flew out to Nashville for my initial visit, to help my boyfriend move into his new apartment that would soon be ours. We planned to go to a venue’s opening party the following night; I was excited to network and feel out potential new employers.
The flight was a total of an hour and 30 minutes, in that time our entire industry shut down. I landed and turned on my phone to see words such as “hysteria,” “canceled,” “going home,” flashing across all my incoming texts. All tours were canceled.
My first stop was an industry friend’s company. The warehouse that was full of employees as I got on my flight now had a total of two workers standing on the loading dock; everyone had gone home. We all naively thought it would be a few weeks – “Two weeks to flatten the curve” they said. Then concerts that had been postponed a few months were soon showing rescheduled dates for the following year.
COVID-19 has made steady work, for all of us in the live music industry, close to impossible. I realize I 
will not have an actual career in the field that I have worked so many years gaining experience and knowledge in, for a very long time. I have spent about ten years growing in a profession that I love only to watch it all crash. The “funny” thing is that what upsets me the most is the fact that I have no idea when I will be able to stand behind a crowd, in a sold-out venue, on a show that I worked and smile. I, along with many others, are hopeful for the come back; however, it is difficult to see the light at this time.
I am currently freelancing for anyone I can and keeping myself as busy as possible.
Yes, I was one of those who got a puppy, and yes, they are a lot of work.
In the spring I put together a merch store, from start to finish, for a venue turning to merchandise to help pay the bills. I have since guided a production company to do the same. I have also joined the drive-in concert crusade and have been sporadically marketing those across New York State. My concern is the winter, after all the merch has already been purchased and the cold forces an end to the novelty drive-in shows. I’m currently uncertain as to how I’ll pay my rent and all of my bills through the winter and I know I’m not the only one.
I miss my job, I miss concerts, I miss my peers who have become family, I miss how it was, and I know I’ll never work a show with a jaded attitude ever again.
Liz Kenny
Nashville, TN