Nederlander Concerts CEO Alex Hodges Reflects On Storied Career, Talks COVID-19

One-On-One With Alex Hodges
 – One-On-One With Alex Hodges
Nederlander Concerts CEO Alex Hodges is a true legend of the concert industry, whose  career includes working with Otis Redding, the Allman Brothers Band, The Police and Lynyrd Skynyrd. 
Hodges has worn many different hats over the years, founding the Paragon and Empire agencies, managing artists like Stevie Ray Vaughan, and now heading up Nederlander Concerts, which promotes shows and books venues around the country, most notably in California, where it programs the Vina Robles Amphitheatre in Paso Robles, Calif. 
For the Pollstar Live! One-On-One series, Hodges sat down with Ray Waddell, Oak View Group President of Media and Conferences, to share stories from his career, to talk about the way the roles of agents and promoters have changed over the years and to discuss the state of the business for Nederlander and beyond in the face of COVID-19.
“We were looking at a 15 or 20 percent boost for 2020,” Hodges said. “We had a robust scheduled planned for Vina Robles Amphitheatre, and those dates wouldn’t start until warmer weather, which started in May or late April. We were on our way to doing 30 dates there. Now we’ve got to be on our way to doing 40 in 2021.” 
Hodges also acknowledged that many artists cannot afford to take a year off and that some small venues will be in a prime position to introduce COVID-19 protections and precautions so people can quickly return to work, whenever it is determined to be safe in different markets. 
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This interview is the latest installment of Pollstar Live! digital content, which has previously included One-On-One discussions with Peter Shapiro of Dayglo Presents and Dennis Arfa of AGI. Last week, Pollstar hosted its first Pollstar Live! Digital Panel with different players from the live industry who are helping individuals, families and the medical community during the COVID-19 pandemic. 
Yesterday, Nederlander and the City National Grove of Anaheim expanded their virtual Block Party event by expanding it into a Tuesday “Grove Grooves” series.