Too expensive, not worth it to play a show to under 100 people for $10 a ticket. Gotta factor in gas, food, parking, and overnight lodging costs. Spiking costs in SF forced a lot of bands to skip and play Oakland. Then costs in Oakland went up and the chances of having your van trashed and gear ripped off went through the roof.
@imtheocean Sure, I'm not familar with the area but Pioneertown looks like a novelty town in the middle of nowhere. Here in Norcal I see bands playing Santa Rosa, Petaluma, and fucking Grass Valley. Bands would always play down by Big Sur but even that seems much more abundant now. As a person who dislikes driving I'm not loving this whole "skip the big cities" thing.