Below are my picks for the top music “event” producers in the U.S. What do you think?
4 Fini/Kevin Lyman – Kevin and company have built multiple touring brands including WARPED, Country Throwdown and Mayhem by staying true to each events vision. Not only are fans…well fans of their shows, so are the artist that play them.
Superfly – Bonnaroo (along w/ AC Entertainment and Red Light Management) put Superfly on the national stage and have since added Outside Lands (w/ Another Planet and Red Light) and new to Brooklyn this May, The Great Googa Mooga (“n amusement park of food and drink). Each year, you can find something new and different at their events. Walt Disney called this “plussing”, or making the experience better for no reason other than to surprise and delight the audience. Do you “plus”?
C3 – Austin City Limits Festival (ACL) and Lollapalooza has three things in common, 1) they are great events, 2) no parking spots for 75,000 guests per day, and 3) are produced by the three C’s that have always put fans and bands first. Charlie, Charlie and Charles are also familiar with “plussing” which keeps fans coming back year-after-year. Being chosen to produce President Obama’s 2008 Inauguration ceremony speaks volumes of their experience and knowhow.
Goldenvoice– Coachella is America’s Music Festival (at least Rock/Alternative). It has been booked and produced for years with passion and love by Paul, Skip and their team… in a market (LA/Southern California) that is much harder to sell tickets in than you may think. It is easy to say now that you knew Coachella would be successful, yet it lost money for the first three years (and probably wouldn’t be around today if it wasn’t for the vision of the AEG Live management team). Now they have moved to 2-weekends and added a country festival on the same site, Stagecoach (doing well for years).
Live Nation/Arthur Fogel, Gerry Barad & Co – U2, The Rolling Stones, Bowie, Rush… nothing more to say.
The Messina Group – Louis Messina and his team just keep hitting them out of the park…ball barks. Kenny Chesney, Taylor Swift, George Strait, and they help-out the Goldenvoice team on Stagecoach in So Cal…those are all well produced shows.
There are plenty more out there for sure (Jazz Fest, Telluride, High Sierra, Voodoo, moe. Down, country and folk festivals everywhere, etc). These are my tops, what are yours?
