Randy Phillips In Reverse

I just read the UT-San Diego article, That is such bullshit. Since this
was the first year, the permits were for a capacity of 65K and the place
was packed for Bruno so I am not sure that capacity is even realistic.
Bob, why is this article the truth and my response is not? To be fair and
balanced, you should print my response. You are doing the RIR team a
tremendous disservice for no reason.

Randy Phillips
CEO
Global Entertainment

________________________________________

Damn it, Bob, stop listening to other peoples self-serving agendas. What
I wrote is the fuckin' truth so print it!!! Please!!!!

Randy Phillips
CEO
Global Entertainment

________________________________________

Come on Randy, a self-serving post from someone who was there?

And everybody said it was 50% attendance.

Check here:

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/may/17/rock-in-rio-releases-total-atte
ndance-figures/

Your reputation for veracity remains intact.

Like I said, you got paid. Be happy. Don't try to bend reality. You had a
good time. I stand by my comments.

Bob Lefsetz

________________________________________

So I guess you are not going to post this response?

Randy Phillips
CEO
Global Entertainment

________________________________________

There was no buzz.
You're in the echo chamber.
No one cared.
There was no unity of vision.
I'm glad you got paid.

Bob Lefsetz

________________________________________

Bob, it has been a while since I have felt compelled to respond to one of your postings. The inherent problem with you writing about Rock-In-Rio Las Vegas 2015, in the manner you did, is that you were not there. Reminds me of lazy Broadway critics who write reviews of shows that a member of their staff attend or who leave the show at intermission. To be completely transparent here, Phil Rodriquez and I were brought in to book the MainStage headlining talent (Taylor, Bruno, Metallica, No Doubt, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith - we missed him!, Mana, Linkin Park) so I am slightly biased. The inaugural year of any festival is not for the financially faint of heart so you should not be shocked to to know the massive losses those visionary pioneers and their partners suffered until Coachella, Bonnaroo, and Lollapalooza became the juggernauts they are today. Same for Jazzfest, the iconic grand–daddy of all American festivals created by George Wein and Quint Davis, which we rescued when I
was CEO of AEG Live.

Having attended both weekends of the first year of RIR Vegas, I have many suggestions to make the festival better like moving it to Memorial Day weekend and eschew the genre specific weekends so that it is just 3 great days of music. The site was actually quite good and the VIP offerings were some of the best I have seen at any festival which certainly matched the Las Vegas aesthetic. Roberto Medina, the creator of RIR, is so consumer focused and open-minded to both praise and criticism that he will fine tune and figure out what works in America like he has in Brazil, Portugal, and Spain. Like Paul Tollett, Charles Attal, and the others, he, too, will defy the odds and ultimately succeed in establishing his brand in America. "Disaster In The Desert" makes good copy and fodder for the naysayers, however, I can say that Roberto and his partners, Yucaipa, SFX, Cirque du Soleil, and MGM Resorts gave me the impression that this year was round one in a championship prize fight they
intend to win, which is the best analogy I can make for an event designed for the Vegas market. It is never a bad thing for our industry when another buyer joins the ranks and fans are given more choice, not less, of how and where to consume their music.

Finally, to set the record straight, the total paid attendance for the 4 days was approximately 172,000 which represented about 75% of sellable capacity, not 50%, all of the higher-priced VIP tickets sold out early, and the "investment" (I prefer that word instead of "loss") was not unexpected and manageable.

Cheers,

Randy Phillips

P.S. I direct your readers to Mikael Wood's review in the LA Times today (May 18, 2015) "Bright Lights, Pop City: Often Incoherent Rock In Rio USA ends with a bit of clarity". A more nuanced review of a festival the writer actually attended!

Randy Phillips
CEO
Global Entertainment


--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1

If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25

To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25




-- powered by phpList, www.phplist.com --