“People don’t want to come out and drink anymore. They’d rather sit at home and get drunk, or surf the Internet."

There's also the question of what kind of music people want to listen to. Rock music seems to wax and wane according to youth preferences and other pop culture and social trends. Bars and clubs that fail to adapt will usually fail.

In the late 90s dance/rap/electronic was rising while guitar-based rock seemed to be fading, or splitting into niches like nu metal. By the early 2010s rock really seemed to be in a deep trough ... at that time I saw some bands that had once been considered big rock acts in 90s like Deftones, Helmet and Kula Shaker playing much smaller venues and neighborhood clubs in Boston.

But 10 years later the pendulum seemed to swing back to rock. I saw Deftones once again on their 2022 tour, now playing a 4,000-seat arena.