Tag Evers returns to show promotion

Music is a longtime passion for the Madison alder

by

Tag Evers’ career in the music promotion business is a 45-years and counting endeavor that’s introduced dozens of artists to Madison and raised more than $100,000 for charities. For Evers, it’s a job that blends passion and doggedness. It’s resulted in more than 2,500 shows in Madison. But it’s been a timeline with several starts and stops. After a three-year hiatus, Evers returns to promoting in Madison on Feb. 7, 2024. That’s when True Endeavors will present Nickel Creek at the Overture Center. His first show back at the Barrymore will be Suzanne Vega on April 23. He’s also scheduled the band Chicago at the Overture Center on June 2.

“I’m excited to be back,” he says. “And to be able to do things on my own terms.” Those terms include working at home with his dog, Bella, by his side. “She’s the love of my life,” he says. She even accompanies him to shows.

Though quick with a smile, Evers (pronounced EH-vers, with a short e, not like Gov. Tony Evers) chooses his words with a determined scrutiny, pausing mid-sentence. He thought he would become a professor when he came to Madison in 1988 for a Ph.D. in agricultural and applied economics (he left the program after getting his master’s degree).

“The arts in general and music in particular feature a profound human need,” he says. “The word amusement means without thinking and at times in our lives we need to be in that place where we’re escaping. We’re escaping from our troubles or from a troubled world. For me a good concert is that collective experience where people can engage with the artist, can see the artist and the artist can see them and magic happens. And it’s particularly needed in troubled times.”

Evers’ philosophy as he describes it is embodied in the name of his company, True Endeavors. But it wasn’t always True Endeavors. Under the moniker Tag Team Productions, Evers began to promote shows in Madison in 1993, bringing an incredibly varied list of established and up-and-coming stars in all genres to venues across the city. His first show was in February of that year when he put Paul Kantner, Papa John Creach, and Jack Casady onstage at the Barrymore Theatre. Since that time he’s promoted nearly 300 shows there. And that’s just at the Barrymore.

“He has a passion for the music,” says Barrymore owner/operator Steve Sperling. “And he has good taste in music.” 

He’s promoted concerts at venues in every corner of the city. Highlights include Bon Iver’s first off-campus performance at the Stage Door. A partial list of artists he brought to Madison during just his first year in Madison in 1993 includes Gil Scott-Heron, Television, King Sunny Ade and the African Beat, The Blind Boys of Alabama, and Ani DiFranco. “Basically teaching myself as I went,” he says.

Evers’ first show was in 1979 in his hometown of Dayton, Ohio. The 23-year-old booked a Christian rock bill that produced less than a heavenly turnout. Evers took a $4,000 bath on the show. “I had to drop out of school to pay off my bills,” he says. “Back then they graciously allowed me to send them money over time — probably because they were a Christian act and they were sympathetic.” It was a tough lesson and a hard knock for the fledgling promoter. And it wasn’t the last time he went all in on an act and lost big. 

Former Orpheum Theater owner Henry Doane says he believes a good promoter is “someone who might take a chance and not do what everybody else does. And I think Tag did that,” Doane says. “He cared about the economics of it for the people who were coming to the show and he tried to keep costs down for tickets for people to afford. That was important to him. And I cared about that.”

Sperling likens the live music promotion business to being a professional gambler. Evers sees it that way too. “How does a promoter end up with a million dollars?” Evers jokes. “He started with two.” Says Sperling, “Would you invest in something where you could lose 100% of your money and at the most maybe make back 15%? You have to have a lot of faith in yourself.”

Cathy Dethmers worked with Evers during her time running O’Cayz Corral and as the first owner of the High Noon Saloon. “Tag books great bands and works really hard to make every show he produces a success,” Dethmers says. “I always knew I could count on him to advertise widely and get people into the venue to see his shows.” 

Evers’ decision in 2000 to change the name of his company to True Endeavors was motivated by a new effort he was putting into raising money for community organizations. He started, with the artist’s approval, adding a dollar to the ticket for this purpose. In this way, Patti Smith performed for a Center for Media and Democracy benefit at the Barrymore. She even got out her checkbook and wrote a $2,000 check for a vintage guitar that was on the silent auction display.

During the Tag Team years, “I was basically doing everything,” he recalls. He survived the great recession of 2008 by paying bills with credit cards. By the late 2000s True Endeavors was stable enough for Evers to hire help, including web support and an office manager. 

But by 2012 he was ready to get out from under the pressure of owning a small business. He sold True Endeavors to Frank Productions and became a senior talent buyer there, until leaving in January 2021.

When live entertainment began returning after the pandemic, Evers struck out on his own again, promoting shows outside of Dane County, something he’s done all over the Midwest the last couple of years — even as he launched his political career. He’s been a Madison alder since 2019, representing the near west side and neighborhoods around Monona Bay. 

“I’m gratified to do shows in Madison,” he says. “One of the biggest compliments I’ve received in this business was when somebody came up to me after a show and said ‘Tag, I didn’t know who this artist was. I didn’t know anything about them. But I saw that True Endeavors was bringing the show and you’ve never let me down.’”