PITTSBURGH — At a former mayoral residence in Pittsburgh's Highland Park neighborhood, the McNair House, a family dog wandered among chairs and sofas arranged to form a makeshift theater in the living room.
At the front of the room, the Canadian alt rock band Status/Non-Status from Guelph, Ontario, delivered a set to an audience of about 20 with Hurley the dog serving as the most vocal fan. The concert — the venue, the band, ticket prices and the split between host and performers — had been arranged entirely with an app called Side Door, a bit of tech at once common-sensical and radical.
Attending a concert with 20-50 people in someone’s home is a different experience than a stadium show in, say, 20,000-seat PPG Paints Arena. As pandemic concerns start to fade and more listeners venture back out to attend their favorite headliners’ shows, the market is also growing for emerging performers trying to build fan bases.
