Mr. Chan Presents dissolves

​After five years of promoting shows around the Twin Cities, the one-man show booking agency Mr. Chan Presents, an offshoot of Live Nation (and formerly Clear Channel), has folded for financial reasons and agency head James DeCoursey has quietly moved his efforts to booking shows at the Cabooze.

The Cabooze has been in a period of transition ever since main talent buyer James "Taco" Martin picked up and moved to Austin, Texas, so hiring DeCoursey to help flesh out the show calendar seems like a smart move.

As Chris Riemenschneider at the Star Tribune notes, the dissolution of Mr. Chan Presents represents a symbolic dissolution of corporate involvement in local club booking as well. "The end of Mr. Chan also marks at least a symbolic end to Clear Channel/Live Nation's once-vigorous push into the local club market, which peaked in the early-'00s when First Ave struggled under competition from the Quest and other Clear Channel-backed venues," he writes.

In other words, this move isn't indicative of financial strain in the local concert market as much as it signifies a greater overall shift toward independently promoted shows in the Twin Cities, and it's also great news for fans of the Cabooze who have been longing for shows aimed at younger, hipper audiences.