The outlook on live music: Wait and see
Local venues begin opening, paving way for entertainment to come
TEXARKANA — With restaurants reopening limited dine-in service, local live music may be poised to make some sort of comeback, but it’s limited and dependent on location.
Redbone Magic Brewing hosted Heather Linn and Jase Bryant this past Saturday night on the Texas side as the restaurant restarted dine-in seating, but other venues pretty much haven’t yet hosted much live music.
Also on the Texas side, Scottie’s Grill has become one of the consistent draws for bigger out-of-town acts performing here, but the venue has yet to promote any live music happening soon on it social media, apart from a David Palmore performance and livestream from the stage on their first day back with dine-in last week.
However, a few shows are listed as “upcoming events” for the venue next month and beyond, including Read Southall on June 12, Sam Riggs on July 24 and Randall King on Sept. 11. The No Club Car Club visited this past weekend, too. Heather Linn will do a livestream from the big stage this weekend.
“As far as right now, we’re not doing any shows on the patio,” said manager Deja Presson. With Texas guidelines currently in place, any musicians will have to play on the big stage. For patio dining, they’re only seating every other table and can’t have large parties at a table.
Presson said the first concert under more normal conditions will likely be Read Southall, and after that they hope to get back to a regular schedule with touring bands, plus Friday and Saturday night bands on the patio.
On the Arkansas side, Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s orders that OK limited dinein service starting Monday still prohibit entertainment options like live music, in-seat gaming devices and arcades.
That means live performances can’t yet restart at local Arkansas-side venues like Fat Jack’s Oyster and Sports Bar and the downtown Hopkins Icehouse, even though they’ll begin dine-in again next