March 5th, 2009
Popped! Festival’s Attorney On Split With Live Nation
Earlier this week, news broke that concert promoter Live Nation had suddenly, and without comment, ended their involvement with the third annual Popped! Festival, scheduled for June 19-21 at FDR Park in South Philly. It was to be a huge step up from last year’s festival held at Drexel University both in terms of the line-up and the expected attendance. This afternoon, we spoke with Popped! attorney Conor Corcoran about the situation:
Did Live Nation’s decision to back out of Popped! take you by surprise?
It took us by surprise. They had been with us for months and had been intimately involved with every stage of the planning process.
When did they come on board?
They came on board in October or November, thereabouts.
And that original association – did they approach you? Were they excited about it from the start? How did that first happen?
They piddled their pants, they were so excited to be a part of this. We approached them and asked if they were interested and they jumped on board. I can’t begin to tell you how much negotiating went on with them. They were in the planning stages of booking acts, they were involved with us in terms of getting FDR Park. They were involved with us in terms of talking about sponsorships. It was an incredibly productive, positive endeavor, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, poof.
So when did this go down? When did they inform you they were pulling out?
I believe it was on February 20th that they let us know that they were backing out. They cited “roadblocks” but they didn’t elaborate in any fashion what those roadblocks were. I have some very strong suspicions, for which I have some evidence.
Really? Do you want to share that?
I can’t at this point in time. But all I know for sure is their official word was roadblocks and they did not identify–
That’s the only reason they gave you? Roadblocks? To back out of a huge, costly event this soon before it’s going to happen, that’s the only reasons they could give you?
Well, I smell something rotten in Denmark. But I really can’t elaborate.
So what are you feeling right now? Disappointment? Anger?
It’s incredibly devastating, not only for the organization but for the city. We’re talking about the most successful concert festival that this city has seen in God knows how long. It got national press. It was on the way up. It started out with small venues and we moved on to Drexel University, and we were moving up. I mean, we were involving the city, and Fairmount Park. And for Live Nation to back out of it, I think they’re going to find that it was a colossal mistake on their part.
So is it done? Is it off, is it cancelled?
Well, we’re looking around but for all intents and purposes we’re going to have a very hard time putting on a show this summer.
Did you have acts booked and set and lined up?
Well, there’s a difference between having an act booked and having an act lined up. We certainly had an idea of what the roster was going to be, and Live Nation and Popped! were actively endeavoring to secure artists on that roster. And these were not some small bands out of Fishtown with six kids with attention deficit problems. These were major acts.
We’re talking about major national acts?
Major national acts that command six figures to show. This was going to be, this would have outdone certainly any of the Lollapaloozas that came through.
Really? That’s what you were shooting for – a Lollapalooza or an All Points West?
Oh sure, it would have been our very own Coachella, but Live Nation backed out. Without any elaboration whatsoever. That’s it.
So it’s done for this year? There’s no way you can sort of regroup?
I’d like to tell you we can but it’s now, for the sake of argument, it’s now March…
What if someone else came in to help you make it happen? Is that just not possible?
Oh, we’d listen. We’d love to put it together.
Who else could you partner with?
That’s the problem here. Live Nation backs out, and if Live Nation backs out, that has a paranoid ripple effect amongst other promoters. When Live Nation backs out, where are we gonna go? There’s AEG.
They were the original partner, right?
They were the original partner, so they’re not going to be in now.
What happened with AEG? You just couldn’t come to an agreement with them at all? What happened with them?
I’ll go with the standard “creative differences” line. AEG wanted out and so they got out. That’s AEG. I believe that the only other promoter in town is C3, and while R5 is in our opinion perhaps the finest promoter in town and certainly the most…well, I’ll stop right there. They just don’t have the resources to do it.
So you’re looking at 2010 then to resume the festival?
That’d be the best we could do. I’d love to see an angel promoter come through, but it’s just too late. It’s March, this was gonna go on in three months, four months. It’s a damn shame. It was going to be a considerable boon to the city. Nothing has gone on down there since that Lollapalooza in the early ’90s and I believe Electric Factory put that on at that point in time. And Electric Factory is now part of Live Nation, they were purchased into the fold, as it were. So these guys knew what kind of … how rare it is and how wonderful it would be to have a show down there. The business that that would have generated for South Philadelphia would have been colossal. The small bars, the restaurants down there. I think there might have been a Phillies game going on at that same time, there was something else going on that same weekend, so it would have been a fantastic weekend at Broad and Pattison.
When I first heard about this, I thought maybe it was an economic thing…
Well, I can tell you this – if it was an economic issue justifying Live Nation’s abrupt departure, if that was the reason, they certainly didn’t articulate it to us…they were behind us, we were working on budget issues, everything was going along.
So February 20th was when they informed you?
I got an e-mail from their lawyer on February 20th letting me know that they were backing out, citing roadblocks. What that was, I don’t know.
Prior to that, in the weeks leading up to that, were things going along as normal? People were excited?
It was like the goddamn Partridge Family! It was the best negotiation we ever had. They were wonderful partners. They were on board, and they were actively participating in every aspect of putting on this festival. They were there for everything. To say that this is horrendous is an understatement. We were going to put on the best concert festival this city’s seen in…there was Live Aid, there was Lollapalooza, and this would have been something of that kind of caliber, if not exceeded it. it was gonna be a hell of a show.
You can’t reveal any of the acts you were considering?
No. not at this point, unfortunately. But it was gonna be a hootenanny of Shakespearean proportions.
So everything was running smoothly, it was going to happen, it was a done deal, and then they pulled out?
Oh God, everybody in … major players in city government knew about this festival.
Was the mayor on board with this?
I don’t know specifically, I can’t speak for the mayor’s office, but I think they knew about it because we were making deals with the Fairmount Park Commission. It was huge. The cops were working with us to come up with some kind of traffic and security plan. It was enormous. And then one day, like a significant other that goes sideways, it just dropped out.
So there were no negotiations at all in the time between February 20th and when the story broke earlier this week, there was no attempt to reconcile anything?
It was self-evident that they just didn’t want to bother. I think they made a truly unfortunate choice. It’s a damn shame.
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