Meet the new managing director of Live After Five

J. Hover, a local concert and festival organizer, is the new managing director of the popular downtown concert series Live After Five.

Hover had previously been serving as production manager of the concert series. He tells Daily Report that he’s grateful to now be at the helm.

“I’m very excited to take on this new role and hopefully grow Live After Five,” he says. “I just want to thank the Live After Five board and the city of Baton Rouge.”

Hover has organized hundreds of live music events in Baton Rouge over the years, including Federales Fest, an annual festival aimed at celebrating Southern music.

Live After Five’s previous managing director Luke Lognion stepped down in February. At the time, he told Daily Report that he was ending his contract with the concert series over creative differences.

According to Lognion, he wanted to grow Live After Five with bigger sponsors and more regional and national acts, but the board wanted to go in a different direction.

“The board is wanting to go back to its roots of celebrating local Baton Rouge bands. … I respect the board’s decision to do that, but that’s not what I was hoping to do,” Lognion said.

Lauren Lambert Tompkins, board president of Live After Five, has cited budget cuts resulting from the incorporation of St. George as the reason for the shift in focus away from more costly touring acts and toward local talent.

Despite the funding challenges, Hover says he’s optimistic that Live After Five will be able to bring in some bigger acts later this year. The concert series puts on two seasons each year, one in the spring and one in the fall. The spring season kicked off with the Baton Rouge Blues Festival on Friday.

“I think there’s an opportunity to bring in some more nationally recognized names,” Hover says. “We’re just trying to get through a great spring season—we feel great about the lineup—and then see what’s possible for the fall through some additional private sponsorships and stuff like that.”

Earlier this year, the aforementioned budget cuts prompted Live After Five organizers to consider reducing the number of shows each season from six to four. But then b1Bank and MAPP Construction stepped up as financial backers of the concert series to ensure a six-show schedule for both the spring and the fall. Both businesses contributed $15,000.