“They’ll tell you straight up how your competition is and how you’ll do in the market,” he said.

That market, not surprisingly, is excellent for country and pretty good for classic rock.

It is not as well suited for performing artists and niche acts.

Artists like Lyle Lovett, Leo Kottke and the Indigo Girls have come here and haven’t sold enough tickets to make them worthwhile for promoters.

Unless performers have a broad base, there won’t be enough fans in the area who will pay to see them.

The lesson: Be honest with promoters and don’t “force-feed” a show into a market that won’t support it.

Mark Halverson, who DJs a blues program on KMSU, acknowledges that the genre hasn’t sold very well here to date. Ticket sales for Lovett and the Robert Cray Band didn’t do much to inspire his faith in the local blues scene.

But he thinks it can work, if the center is willing to cultivate the fans.

Legendary blues artist B.B. King, slated for an Oct. 30 performance, will be a good test, and Halverson hopes it starts a trend.

He said Duluth had a blues festival that drew between 40,000 and 50,000 people.

“And I’d like to think Mankato people are at least as sophisticated as people in Duluth-Superior,” he said.

A hockey footnote

There’s a corollary to the why-don’t-more-bands-come question.

The biggest season for concerts is in the winter and the best days for concerts are Friday and Saturday nights.

Now, what could the problem be?