#224

Author

Back of House
October 08, 2024

Issue #224

The southeastern United States continues to assess the devastation of Hurricane Helene’s path, and the live industry is jumping in and doing what it can to support cleanup, restoration, and daily survival efforts. At the same time, areas recently hit are preparing to get hit again as Hurricane Milton builds and heads towards Florida.

Please donate what you can when you can - time, goods, money - it all helps.

Festie Fam Mutual Aid for Hurricane Helene relief

The festival industry is many different things, but above all, it is strong, supportive, and really freaking good at identifying an issue and quickly finding a solution. So when Hurricane Helene tore through parts of the US and directly affected members of our “Festie Fam”, it should be no surprise that members of the fam jumped into action and began collecting needed items and trucking them to Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville, NC which has turned into a distribution point. 

Want to help? There are drop off locations in Richmond, VA (Brok Productions) and New Orleans, LA (Raven PMG). Monetary donations can be made to The Duke Productions (Venmo: @thedukeprod). Anything you can do will make a difference.

“Let’s fill these trucks!”

Artists helping Helene efforts

Eric Church is donating all of the royalties from his newest song, “Darkest Hour,” to the people affected by Hurricane Helene in his home state of North Carolina. According to Church, “This is not a quick thing to fix, so hopefully ‘Darkest Hour’ will be able to contribute to that for a long time to come. This song goes to my home, North Carolina, now and forever.” Church is also working to put together the upcoming Concert for Carolina benefit (more below).

Dolly Parton has made a personal donation of $1 million to the Mountain Ways Foundation to provide immediate assistance to flood victims. In addition, her East Tennessee businesses have partnered with Walmart to provide meals, showers, and laundry facilities as well as matching her personal donation with another $1 million contribution to the MWF.

The Morgan Wallen Foundation has partnered with Second Harvest of East Tennessee to sell t-shirts and host a food and water drive to support those affected in his hometown. Wallen’s foundation also donated $500,000 to the American Red Cross.

When Billy Strings had to unexpectedly leave his Renewal Festival before he could headline the September 27 - 28 event in Buena Vista, CO to be with his wife who went into labor, he promised festival guests he’d make it up to them. Strings made it back to Michigan in time (thanks to a ride on Ringo Starr’s jet), the festival continued without him, and his son was born the following Monday. A week later, he thanked his fans for their support and let them know he’d be refunding all festival tickets completely.

Last week NIVA sent a letter to US Senators calling out Stubhub and Vivid Seats for their predatory ticket practices associated with Oasis’s North American Tour. According to the letter, NIVA found over 9,000 speculative tickets available before the presale or general on sale, at prices “likely exceedingly higher than the face value.” They are asking for congress to call a committee hearing on these practices and to advance the Fans First Act.

Stubhub responded with an official statement calling out Live Nation/Ticketmaster and NIVA as having “partnered to spread false information about ticket availability in an attempt to further their own policy agenda and create distrust in the secondary market.” The secondary platform asserts that there are several ways for tickets to become available before a presale or on sale, including season ticket holders and sponsors and that they prohibit speculative sales.

Ticketmaster: “Stubhub is lying.” And, “no one had advance rights to the particular seats listed for sale on StubHub.”

Gloves up 🥊

A Michigan appeals court upheld its decision that Live Nation was not liable for the deaths of two young campers at its 2021 Faster Horses Festival. The campers’ generator had been installed backwards, pushing carbon monoxide into their trailer instead of out of it, poisoning them to death. The families of the victims blamed festival organizers for campsites that were too small (organizers had a permit for the smaller size) and for not monitoring and supervising the campgrounds.

Live Nation has lost its bid to relocate the impending DOJ antitrust lawsuit from NY to Washington, DC. As a reminder, LN felt that the case fell within the 2010 consent decree which stated that any issues related to it fall under the jurisdiction of the Washington, DC court. However, the DOJ ruled that the case is beyond the scope of the decree. And while the case could potentially be moved due to convenience, LN agreed that DC and NY are “equally convenient.” So, NY it is.

ABBA’s virtual concert series “ABBA Voyage” is proving that if you can’t see a band live, seeing their holograms perform is just as good. The series generated $137 million in revenue 2023 ($10.8 million profit) and has continued to attract a global audience since its launch in 2022. Demand is expected to continue as the show is currently booked through May 2025.

Check out how Israel and the rest of the world are marking the anniversary.

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Last Week's Results:
44% of BOH readers have unfortunately been affected by a major weather event this year (personally or professionally).

Headliners, Lineups, and Festival Announcements 

  • Concert for Carolina, a concert organized by Luke Combs and Eric Church to aid Hurricane Helene relief in the Carolina region will take place October 26 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, NC. Billy Strings, James Taylor, and others will perform along with Combs and Church. 

  • Counting Crows’ Adam Duritz and Barbara Rappaport Garrett have announced that the free Underwater Sunshine Festival will be back for the first time since 2022, October 18 - 19 at New York City’s Bowery Electric. The lineup includes Pat McGee, Red Wanting Blue, Love Jones, Mary Shelley, and more.

  • Phish is heading back to Madison Square Garden for what has become their traditional New Year’s run. The band will play four nights, December 27 - 31 at the World’s Most Famous Arena in New York City.

  • The UK’s Country to Country (C2C) festival will feature Lainey WIlson, Dierks Bentley, and Cody Johnson, March 14 - 16 at the O2 in London, OVO Hydro in Glasgow, and SSE Arena in Belfast.

  • Ultra Miami is celebrating 25 years with back-to-back sets from Deadmau5 and Pendulum, John Summit and Dom Dolla's "Everything Always" project, Tiësto, Martin Garrix, and Zedd, March 28 - 30 at Bayfront Park in downtown Miami, Florida.

  • Goose and 100x Hospitality have launched a new destination festival, Viva El Gonzo, May 8 - 10 at El Gonzo Oasis in San José del Cabo, Mexico.

Cancellations, Changes

  • Suwannee Roots Revival, scheduled for October 10 - 13 has been canceled due to damage to the Live Oak, FL festival grounds by Hurricane Helene. Organizers for Suwannee Hulaween, which also takes place at Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park, say that the festival is still on track for October 24 - 27.

  • Donald Glover canceled the rest of the Childish Gambino tour including all dates in North America, the UK, and Europe due to medical issues.

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