It feels to me like things have ramped up at Bend’s Volcanic Theatre Pub in a way that is significant on a few different levels. Let me explain what I mean:

1. New owner John Davis and his crew have reoriented the cozy concert venue, moving the stage from the northwest corner of the room to the eastern wall. “There is so much room for activities now,” VTP posted on Facebook last weekend. The accompanying photo looks like an entirely different space!

2. I have no data to back this up, but Volcanic feels busier now than it has ever been. There are 19 shows on its calendar between now and the end of October, and 14 already announced for November. This used to be a relatively slow time of year for shows in Central Oregon, folks!

3. Again, no data, but the prominence of the headliners seems to be growing, too. The pop-rock band Dayseeker just sold the place out well in advance, and in the coming weeks, Volcanic will welcome jazz fusion band Garaj Mahal (Thursday), psych faves Brian Jonestown Massacre (Oct. 7), hip-hop weirdo Kool Keith (Oct. 14), dance-pop dude Robert Delong (Oct. 18), bluegrassers Pert Near Sandstone (Oct. 19), Pixie & The Partygrass Boys (Oct. 26) and Town Mountain (Oct. 28), heavy rockers Gnome (Wednesday) and Fallstar (Oct. 22), and a slew of country, folk and Americana artists, including Will Hoge and William Elliot Whitmore (Oct. Monday), Andrew Duhon (Wednesday), Vincent Neil Emerson and Logan Ledger (Oct. 12), Tommy Prine (Oct. 15) and The Steel Wheels (Oct. 20), among others.

I pay attention to venue calendars in other (bigger) cities, and Volcanic’s is really starting to look and feel like those. And that’s cool.

Volcanic Theatre Pub is located at 70 SW Century Drive in Bend. For more information, visit volcanictheatre.com.