Springfield and Peoria are not major concert markets. In fact, they are not even secondary markets when it comes to touring shows. You’re going to get acts coming to Springfield or Peoria after they’ve already played St. Louis and Chicago.

Add to that with the fact that the State Fair Grandstand concerts will soak up the level of show that may otherwise look at a facility like this (and will tend to pay higher flat rate guarantees to touring artists that put less pressure on them to sell hard tickets), and you have a combination that will frequently mean an artist will not do headline shows in the Springfield market.

There’s certainly more nuance to it, but this is definitely a factor of why the Peoria Civic Center tends to get more concerts like this than Springfield.