Shire City Sessions Returns, Bringing Original Music To Common
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Shire City Sessions concert series has moved to the Common.
Four shows will be played in July and August on Monday nights at the First Street park featuring an array of original bands with regional or national draw. The series in its second year; three concerts were held last year in the parking lot of Shire City Sanctuary.
"We had a great first season and I think using the parking lot at the church was something that just worked. But, it is also a lot of work to turn a parking lot into a concert venue and back to a parking lot in 24 hours and that was essentially what we were doing last year," Alan Bauman, owner of Compuworks and co-organizer of the series, said on Friday.
Now at the Common, the bands will be sharing the stage and equipment used by Shakespeare in the Park during the evening when the play production isn't using it. The sharing of resources was headed by the city's Director of Cultural Development Jen Glockner. With the ability to use the Shakespeare in the Park equipment, the amount of labor put in by the organizers of Shire City Sessions, who built the stage last year and put up and took down the entire set up each weekend, have been eased.
"It is a big deal to share a stage that has already been set up for a production. So it really required that we were patient with one another and just figure out every little detail and address every little concern," organizer Kathy Lloyd said. "But we are able to share resources — lights and sound. It's a great collaboration of two entities sharing a space."
The first show is on July 25 featuring the Banditos. The following Monday, the Primate Fiasco will take the stage; Eli "Paperboy" Reed follows the Monday after that, and Kat Wright and the Indomitable Soul Band finish off the weekly series on Aug. 15. The concert is now weekly for four weeks instead of being monthly for three months.
"They are amazing singer-songwriter bands that write their own music and perform their own music. You may or may not have heard of them but they are legit," Lloyd said.
Bauman said the booking of these bands that was headed by Josh Bennett was more complicated than last year because they are from farther away.
"Last year, there was a local connection to all of the bands that we booked and this year that wasn't so much the case. In making booking contacts and firming up contracts with these bands was more involved than last year," Bauman said. "We're getting them here in part because it is a Monday night so you can negotiate a Pittsfield-friendly price. We wouldn't be able to afford Eli Reed on a Saturday night."
And the series budget has doubled, particularly because of the help of additional sponsors. The weekly concerts are free to attend and the money for the bands and other overhead costs are paid for by sponsors — particularly Interprint and Compuworks.
"I think we all want this to be accessible to everybody. We don't want there to be a reason for people to not come, the more the merrier. We want this to be a community event," Bauman said. "It is not really about making money or anything like that. It just felt better to us to fund it than to try to charge people a ticket price that might keep them away."
The organizers will pass the hat around at the end of each show for suggested donations.
"If it is $5 or $10, whatever, it doesn't have to be much. But it shows us that people are interested in supporting what we are doing," co-organizer Crispina ffrench said.
The group could charge a ticket price for the bands but has opted not to. The focus is not only bringing bands the organizers would want to see but also creating a vibe for the city's downtown and putting something on during Monday night, when there isn't typically much to do.
"What Pittsfield needs is not necessarily one big thing, it is lots of little things," Bauman said. "We don't need another Colonial Theatre. We have lots of cool big things. But, in my opinion, it is the farmer's markets, the concert series like this, a dog park in the future, it is these little things that you can get your hands around. It doesn't take $20 million to do. We will do this festival for $20,000 and the next four people will do another thing. If you have enough of these small things, that is really what this city needs."
Lloyd said in other cities she's lived in there have been similar events but not in Pittsfield. Instead of lamenting that, she joined Bauman and ffrench last year in putting it on. And now, it is growing.
"It was a blast to bring something like this to downtown Pittsfield. We really wanted to bring original music performed by the writers and every concert was mindblowing. It was such a great vibe. I can't imagine why we wouldn't do it again," Lloyd said. "This is the kind of event that happens in cities I want to live in."
Last year between 400 and 500 people attended each show.
"Last year we planned this on the back of a napkin. We started planning it in June and our first show was in July. It was really seat of the pants, grassroots, and it was phenomenal. It turned out better than we hoped for. This year, it is much more upfront and our budget doubled, which is allowing us to add a show and bring in some talent from further a field," Bauman said.
The Whiskey Treaty Roadshow filmed their set during the final concert of last year. That has helped share the event with their fans and the organizers of Shire City Sessions — who never imagined one of the bands would film it for a live release — hopes it'll help grow the series.
"I think it shown a light on the entire series. They were our last event last summer so I feel like it is going to benefit us more this year than last year," ffrench said.
In the audience for each one of last year's concerts was Bill Hines, co-managing director of Interprint, who enjoyed it do much that he jumped on as an additional sponsor.
“Everything about Shire City Sessions is exciting a beautiful setting, community, and one of the most interesting lineups of talented musicians and songwriters to be found anywhere. We’re excited to play our part in making it happen," Hines wrote in a statement.
Bauman said the future of the series will partly depend on the interest of those who will contribute to growing it. But more importantly, the future depends on whether there are enough faces in the crowd enjoying the show to make it all worth it.
"In order for us to feel like the work being done is worthy, we need to know people are really enjoying it. They don't need to help, they just need to show up and have a good time," ffrench said.
Tags: concerts, Pittsfield Common, public parks,
