JOE ENGEL / RATAJ-BERARD
Matt Gerding (left) and Scott Leslie of the Majestic are merging forces with the Frank family.
Apparently, we’re not done with the shifts and bombshells reshaping the Madison music venue scene. Frank Productions has announced plans to merge operations with Matt Gerding and Scott Leslie, the owners of Majestic Live/The Majestic Theater, later this year.
“We discovered our companies are a lot more complementary than competitive,” says Charlie Goldstone, president of Frank Productions Concerts LLC, stressing that this move is a merger, not a buyout. “The way for both of us to improve is to join forces.”
There is some precedent. Frank Productions has collaborated with Gerding and Leslie the past two years on its summer concert series at Breese Stevens Field. But the merger announcement is just the latest in a series of bold moves from Frank Productions, which followed the announcement of their upcoming new 2,500-seat music venue, The Sylvee, with the surprise announcement that they’d be purchasing the High Noon Saloon from longtime owner-operator Cathy Dethmers in May. The merger will result in a new business with an as-yet undetermined name. It will be able to book into five Madison music venues: Breese Stevens Field, The Sylvee, the High Noon Saloon, the Majestic and the Frequency. Frank Productions’ primary competition, Live Nation, controls booking for the 2,300-seat Orpheum Theater on State Street.
Goldstone says not much will change from the way things are currently operating. Gerding and Leslie will remain primarily responsible for booking the Majestic, as well as The Blue Note and the Rose Music Hall in Columbia, Missouri, where they’ve been active since 2014. Frank Productions will retain primary responsibility for the other venues, but both sides will also collaborate on bookings and marketing as opportunities arise.
“All of us are in this because we want to make music and artists grow,” says Gerding. “We want to develop artists from the Frequency to the High Noon to the Majestic and upwards from there.”
As an example, Leslie points to a band like Portugal. The Man, which played a sold-out show at the Majestic March 24. Gerding and Leslie booked the Alaska quintet into the now-defunct Café Montmartre in 2009, well before they became a household name, beginning a relationship that paid off eight years later.
“Bands remember people who are nice when they don’t have to be nice,” Leslie says. “That’s the kind of relationship we’re looking to develop.”
The question is whether that model also extends to local musicians. News that Frank Productions would be taking over the High Noon Saloon sent some unsettling waves through the locals, and this latest bombshell probably won’t do much to allay any fears they may have about future booking opportunities.
Goldstone says they needn’t worry.
“We have staff in place who will be committed just to the booking of local artists at the High Noon,” he says. He declined to offer further specifics until after the venue sale is finalized in May.
Gerding says he’s as shocked as anyone by the latest shift in the local music scene.
“It’s very bizarre,” he says. “When we got here a decade ago, it was all competitive — we were jockeying for position with Frank Productions and True Endeavors [the promotion company founded by Tag Evers, now also a Frank Productions employee]. Now, you fast-forward 10 years, and we’re on the same team. We can make the Madison music scene better together.”
Editor's note: This story was updated on March 29, 20017 to reflect the fact that Frank Productions and the Majestic will form a new business entity when they merge later this year.
