2024 Fred lineup: Ben Folds, Air Supply, Sheila E , Men at Work, Wallflowers ajc.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ajc.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
In one of the most significant closures to hit Austin’s music industry during the COVID-19 pandemic, local concert promotions company Margin Walker closed up shop for good on Monday after staging hundreds of homegrown shows annually since 2016 at a variety of venues here and around the state. Tabled: Margin Walker heads Graham Williams and Ian Orth (r) at the ground of Sound on Sound Fest in 2016 (Photo by David Brendan Hall)
News of the organization’s closing hit in a mid-afternoon social media post Dec. 14, which characterized the move as a “very tough decision, but one that, essentially, made itself” given the pandemic’s nuclear impact on live entertainment. Substantial concert calendars went mostly black after March and 2021 remains shrouded in uncertainty. As such, having one of the largest independent show stagers in the state throw in the towel appears an ominous indicator of how slow a rebound the touring music industry faces.