No Yoakam Show At Dome

Dwight Yoakam is going to need another venue if he’s to play Anchorage, Alaska, as planned, perhaps a room that doesn’t need to be inflated.

Yoakam was scheduled to play The Dome, a 2,000-seat venue in Anchorage that boasts of being the “largest air-supported structure of its kind anywhere in North America.” With an inflatable roof covering an area capable of hosting sports events such as soccer or track, the upcoming Yoakam concert was going to be the venue’s first music event.

But city officials nixed the June 25 show, saying the venue didn’t meet Anchorage Fire Code rules and regs for hosting concerts, according to the Anchorage Daily News.

“The Dome was originally approved under a very limited scope of the International Building code which allowed only sporting events in it, such as ice skating, tennis, horse riding, etc.,” Anchorage’s acting fire marshal, James Gray, told the newspaper.

As to why an audience watching, say, a tennis match is different than attending a concert, Gray listed several reasons.

“Concert-goers are often impaired in some way,” Gray said. “There is usually limited lighting or lighting effects; the majority of the crowds are gathered in the center of the dome rather than along the periphery; most concerts have stages with high power to sound and lighting equipment; sometimes they throw in pyrotechnics that the fire department did not know about.”

According to the Anchorage Daily News, the promoter saw the Yoakam show, billed as “Jeans On The Green” as a way for music fans to enjoy outdoor-like concerts without actually being at the mercy of Alaska’s weather. A 2005 “Blues On The Green” event at Anchorage’s Kincaid Park resulted in gusty winds blowing dust, chairs and concession tent stands across the area.

The video embedded below depicting a soccer match gives you a pretty good idea of what the Dome is like inside and out.