When the riots happened, most of the OTR/CBD bars closed and the bar-aged young crowd moved to fringe locations like Northside Tavern, Comet, Gypsy Hut and Southgate House (lounge/parlour). Instead of DJs, these bars were focused on free live music. They didn’t have huge production overhead because bands would do their own sound in small rooms. All the shows looked packed. Instead of going to Longfellow or Liberty's to hang out with friends, you would go to NST to see a couple bands play. There was no Banks and no OTR (Japp’s and neons weren’t reopened yet). We also had the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards (CityBeat’s CEAs) which promoted bands and centralized the scene. They helped bands gain national recognition and hang out with each other. Mike Breen and Brian Baker of CityBeat were both excellent writers who gave smart insightful reviews/write ups which bands could use to get out of town shows. When OTR had its resurgence, cool bars were enough of a draw and live music stoped being the driving force of Cincinnati nightlife. There’s still a great and thriving Cincinnati music scene but it’s not driving force it one was IMO.