Crafting the perfect atmosphere for groovy people that are excited to see their favorite artist live is just something people cannot get enough of, but what is it like behind the scenes of making nights like these possible?
Lowbrow Palace is a local, live music venue that is home to nights filled with music and ambiance, and much more.
Founded in 2011, the faces behind the name “Lowbrow Palace” have made a mark in the El Paso music business by bringing in a unique mix of melodies and sounds onto the stage.
The heart of Lowbrow Palace resides at 1006 Texas Avenue with an outdoor and indoor area being able to hold different events, but that wasn’t always the case.
“We started on Robinson. It was definitely a smaller venue, it was about 300 (people max),” marketing manager Jessica Mendoza said. “We were there close to 10 years, and then we moved to Texas St. And it’s a whole different world being in a bigger space.”
Today, Lowbrow palace is able to rake in back-to-back sold-out shows while filling the 1500 outdoor and 750 indoor spaces capacity, host night markets with killer thrift finds, and invite adults into “Sip City” with their wine fest.
“Being on Texas St. has expanded us, in terms of what type of events we can book here. Outside of the music shows, we’re able to do more night markets. We also host whiskey, beer, and wine festivals,” Mendoza said. “There’s definitely more opportunities in doing more special events.”
With the growth of Lowbrow Palace, they can bring bigger names into the city across different genres for all ages. Notable names include 90’s Hip-Hop/Rap group Bone Thugs‐n‐Harmony and breakthrough artist of the new Indie wave, Faye Webster.
Bringing the magic to the stage mainly relies on one thing, the production team. Mendoza mentions that what influences the creations of the production team is the different artists that come on stage.
“It depends on the artist, they’ll include what they want ahead of time, in terms of certain lighting, or if they want their own set up with banners or props,” Mendoza said. “We’ll get a tech rider that include the stage plan, input and equipment/backline list.”
She also mentions that sometimes more established artists will sometimes bring their own production team to set up.
“The day prior, production does setup on stage in terms of what equipment, sound and/or lighting is needed. On the day of the show, that’s when everything gets locked in,” Mendoza said. “It also varies if the show is inside our outdoors. Outdoors we typically bring a stage, and sometimes its day of or the day prior, but it’s a whole production.”
By bringing artists into the city, Mendoza mentions how important it is to build a network with artists and their management teams that will guarantee their visits back to El Paso and Lowbrow in the future.
“We built relationships with artist, and those relationships have followed us to this point,” Mendoza said. “There’s a bunch of agencies or artist who love El Paso, and they’ll reach out to us to see if we have any openings.”
The change and rising growth in social media growth has also expanded Lowbrow Palace’s artist pool by exposing them to new up and coming artists.
“With social media growing so much and changing, we’ve been able to have a bigger team now and create more video content,” Mendoza said. “Having the help of TikTok has helped and bringing in artists who have trending songs on TikTok.”
Lowbrow welcomes everybody and anybody under their roof, inviting all to swing by for a fun time.
“We’re an all-genre music venue, there’s definitely a little bit for everyone,” Mendoza said. “Our venue is open to all, we have book shows and special events for all walks of life.”
Behind every memorable night in the pit, remember that there’s a team behind all the magic that makes it possible.
