Rock the Red Cancelled – Update: City Changed Responsibilities
The event is cancelled, but STAY TUNED!!
More info to come as its available, but in speaking briefly with Rock the Red organizers, yes, Rock the Red at Bojangles Coliseum has in fact been cancelled.
When the organizers first approached Bojangles (A city owned venue run by the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority) with the intent to hold an event, marketing assistance was specifically asked for and granted. A deposit of $11,000 was also required.
Shortly after the contract signing, according to organizers, a number of CRVA employees with whom the contract was worked out and from whom assistance was offered were let go and replaced. The new crop, again according to organizers, were less helpful and failed to live up to the obligations for marketing support that were originally agreed to.
In addition, Rock the Red was also told last week that a total of $31,000 was due ($15,000 of which for union labor) or the event would be cancelled. This amount was not anticipated to be due until at least reconciliation at the time of the event.
Needless to say, this unexpected acceleration of demands by the CRVA was undelivered, and Bojangles cancelled the venue.
In speaking with John Snyder, an attorney retained by Rock the Red, a specific complaint regarding marketing efforts was in how the CRVA dealt with TicketMaster. The event was listed as a “Republican Event”, even though as a PAC Rock the Red could not be affiliated with the GOP. Furthermore, searches for any of the performers by name in TicketMaster would not return results that included Rock the Red.
According to Snyder, “Whenever you have to use the government as a middleman, it never goes well.”
Organizers are currently working to find an alternative venue, so the event may still be on in a different format.
Again, more information as it becomes available.
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Rock the Red was to be a major political/entertainment event for Conservatives set to take place next week (September 5) here in Charlotte during the DNC. Music stars Travis Tritt, Charlie Daniels, and Lee Brice were confirmed performers and many elected officials, candidates, and local political talent were set to give speeches. It was shaping up to be a spectacular event.
It appears that as of now, not only is the rockthered.com website down, but Ticketmaster is showing the event has been cancelled. Click HERE for screenshot.
I haven’t seen this reported anywhere else yet, and have sent a communication to organizer Jason Lambert to get the details of what’s going on.
Stay tuned and I’ll let you know what I hear.
Update: Bojangles Coliseum, the event venue, now is also showing the event as having been cancelled on their website.
So it looks like we have three levels of confirmation here, which is a shame. If the promoter responds, we’ll be happy to post the explanation for the cancellation.
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