Lyssa Beyer

After attending a concert at Stones Throw on Saturday night, I realized something was missing – underage fans.

All of the music venues in Eau Claire are 21 plus as required by a city ordinance, stating that no persons under 21 are to be admitted into taverns without an parent or guardian. To everyone else who happens to be under 21, we are missing out.

Eau Claire is one of the few cities of its size to have such an ordinance. Fortunately, I was able to attend this event because my last article for The Spectator was a preview for the event. I’m not always going to be this lucky and my hope is that the ordinance can be changed.

One of the bands I saw last Saturday was playing at colleges across the country. Unlike Eau Claire, the majority of the college towns they went to, they were able to play on campus. Students under 21 at other colleges were able to see the band, while us here at UW-Eau Claire weren’t able to. I am not sure if this was the university’s decision or the bands’, but students should be given more options if they’re not 21 yet.

Coming from Minneapolis, I have very rarely been denied entrance to a concert for being under 21. Unlike Eau Claire, the music venues in Minneapolis are not all for people of legal drinking age, so it is not as much of a problem. If I wanted to go to a concert and it was for some reason 21 plus, I would just wait for another concert to come around. I don’t have that option in Eau Claire, the only waiting I will be doing is until I’m of legal drinking age.

I have attended concerts back in Minnesota that serve alcohol, but they make it very clear I am not able to drink. The music venue draws a large “x” in permanent marker on the hands of people not allowed to drink as soon as they enter. It’s an easy way to identify who isn’t of drinking age and a way to allow people of all ages to attend concerts.

Eau Claire is also an ideal location for bands to play because the city is right between Milwaukee and Minneapolis. Having all ages or 18 plus shows would make it more worthwhile for bands to come to Eau Claire and make it more appealing for them to play a show.

Besides, fans go to concerts to watch their favorite musicians perform music, not to drink alcohol. I’m not allowed to go into a bar because its main purpose is to serve alcohol. I should be able to watch live music since I am there for the music, and that is the venue’s main event.

Music venues are more concerned with the music scene than with money, even though they wouldn’t gain or lose money if the ordinance changed. They want younger attendees to come to shows in hopes of the music scene building. Also, age should not define who can be a fan of music because music can be appreciated by people of all ages.

This age restriction is not only bad for the local music scene, but also for the bands playing in Eau Claire. The bands that play in this city are typically on the rise with small fan bases. They need as many people as possible and of all age groups to attend. They typically target college students, and 18 to 20-year-olds are included in this category.

Several students I interviewed on campus for my last article expressed interest in attending the concert but weren’t of age yet so they had to miss out. Stones Throw owner and booking agent Andrew Pernsteiner said the ordinance is really too bad and many more people would turn out for these smaller bands if they could. Half of our campus is being denied exposure to some really great bands they most likely never would have heard of otherwise. Most of the band members playing on Saturday weren’t 21 themselves.

We miss out on too many things for being under 21 on a college campus. Why let great music be another one?

Cegla is a freshman mass communications major and copy editor of The Spectator.