JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The Northeast Florida region is taking the spotlight on the national music stage.
More record labels and artists are booking venues in Jacksonville and St. Augustine than ever before.
One local record store owner is paying close attention to the sudden boom in big name acts coming to our area.
"Alan Parsons is coming and I would really like to see Alan Parsons. I also like the Steve Miller Band," said Ron Johnston, owner of Budget Records.
Alan Parsons is headlining The Florida Theatre on Feb. 20, while the Steve Miller Band will take the stage on Valentine's Day.
The Veterans Memorial Arena will host huge mainstream artists like Maroon 5 in April and Justin Bieber in August.
While officials in St. Augustine are expecting 25,000 fans to pack Francis Field in September to see Mumford & Sons. Tickets for that show go on sale on Friday, Feb. 8.
According to the programing director of X102.9, this recent influx of artists is a huge change for a region that was largely ignored for many years.
"Certainly since Big Ticket came to town and Welcome to Rockville came to town these big concert festivals we have going, it is now a destination for these bands to come off of those cycles," said Aaron Schachter, 102.9 FM programming director.
According to Schachter, there is still one thing holding the River City back from booking a venue as big as EverBank Field.
"We have a reputation of being a walk-up town when it comes to buying tickets. It's something the Jaguars experience on a yearly basis where we haven't had blackouts in a very long time but people wait until the last minute to buy tickets," said Schachter.
Which is something that scares a lot of concert promoters and agents of bands but according to Schachter, it's a reputation that is slowly changing.
