WHAT REALLY HAPPENED SUNDAY NIGHT…
I really hoped it wouldn’t come to this, but since there are a million different stories going around, I felt the need to let you all know what happened at the “concert” that we were supposed to play on Sunday night. This is most likely going to be long, so I’m going to apologize in advance. Hopefully you’ve got a few minutes to spare to actually read all of this, and who knows, you might actually learn something. :)
I don’t really know where to start, so I guess I’ll just start from the top. But before I do, let me explain to you in very brief terms what a promoter’s job is on the day of a show: to keep the show on schedule (which is especially important for a Sunday night show) and make sure everything goes as planned. That’s about it. Sure there’s more when you get into paying artists and making sure that you honor your agreements / contracts with them, but I don’t really want to get that far into it. The basic point of all of this is that it’s the promoter’s job and SOLELY the promoter’s job to make the show run smoothly and according to plan. It’s not the bands’ responsibility OR the venue’s — it’s solely the promoter’s.
So, back to Sunday. In what was most definitely a sign of things to come, everything started late, including the promoter’s arrival to the venue. One venue staff member said the promoter was almost FOUR HOURS late to the show. Which really doesn’t surprise me. But considering my interaction with him didn’t start until around 8 PM, I don’t know the exact details about that. Anyway, as far as the show itself goes, it was a disaster from the very beginning. In addition to starting late, the promoter couldn’t find bands and skipped them in the order only to re-insert them later, and even COMPLETELY FORGOT to give a band a time slot. But rather than having a stage manager work with the earlier bands to do whatever was necessary to get back on schedule (adjust set times / make bands cut songs, help make sure set changes were quicker, etc) — the concert just kept getting further and further behind.
The initial problem of starting late was compounded by the plan for 15 minute set changes without allowing bands to backline equipment. It’s virtually impossible to have one band load their gear off and have another load theirs on and get a decent sound check in a matter of 15 minutes. But that’s not really the issue. They planned for 15 minute set changes, so they should had made sure that set changes were no more than 15 minutes. But, as you might expect, set changes were more like 25 or 30 minutes. And then sound checks dragged on and on. Yet bands still kept playing their full sets on the stages they were supposed to play. I feel like I should interject here and say that NONE of this was the fault of the earlier bands. As I said before, it’s solely the responsibility of the promoter and his/her crew to keep everything on schedule.
Now, to get to the point where we (THE HIT) are actually involved. We were originally supposed to play around 7:15-7:30. As the time for our set grew nearer and we noticed that the two bands who were supposed to play before us hadn’t even taken the stage yet, we knew that the night was shaping up to be a disaster. We weren’t the only band to notice that the show slowly becoming a disaster. Every band backstage was talking about the problems and wondering what was going to be done to fix it, yet the promoter still didn’t seem to be doing anything about it. Finally realizing that someone had to so SOMETHING, one of the other bands scheduled for later in the night finally pulled the promoter aside and told him something HAD to be done. That he couldn’t just do nothing. ONE OF THE BANDS HAD TO MAKE THE PROMOTER DO HIS JOB, and this was well after the show was 2 hours behind. So as the show fell further and further behind and the promoter finally realized that a show being 2 hours behind was probably a bad thing, he finally showed his face backstage and tried to make / force some changes.
As Breathe Electric was about to go on (the band who was scheduled to play before us), we were approached backstage by the promoter and told that he basically told us that Disco Curtis was going to be playing next, and that we would be playing AFTER them, instead of before, since a lot of their fans had to leave soon because it was a school night and the show was already approaching 10 pm. We agreed to the change because we were trying to do whatever we could to help the show, and we worked with Disco to make sure we could help try to get things back on some sort of schedule, despite the fact that OUR fans had to leave, too. We just wanted to do what we could to help the show and do what was best for everyone.
We both (THE HIT & Disco Curtis) agreed to cut 2 songs from our sets, and Disco helped us set up our equipment on the stage before they played so that as soon as they were done, all we would have to do is change out drum kits. They were going to help us make the change as quickly as possible, and we even agreed to play without a sound check, which is the worst thing a band can possibly do for the sake of sound, but we wanted to do everything we could to play for our fans and help the show get back on schedule. I might add that when we were asked to change set times with Disco Curtis, it was the first time that I had seen the promoter all day, despite the fact that his show was hours behind. He kept passing responsibility off to other people (tour manager’s of other bands on the show, the people he brought to help him, etc.) but I never saw him backstage trying to do ANY sort of problem solving until almost 9 PM.
As Disco was about to start their set (AFTER we had already agreed to switch time slots and loaded all of our gear on stage and gotten it ready to go), the promoter finally told us that he wasn’t going to let us play. He just handed us our money and told us that we weren’t playing. Let me clarify here, we did not ask for our money at this point and we most definitely did not DEMAND to be paid as some people are saying. The promoter literally walked up to Kade with the money in his hand and gave it to him and said, “Here’s your money, but you can’t play.” He refused to let us take the stage. We were told that if we took the stage, we would be forcibly removed and the police would be called. We were not asked nicely to not take the stage, we were flat out denied the opportunity and threatened with legal action. We tried to work out ANYTHING to play for our fans, even offering to play 2-3 songs and then leave. Yes, TWO OR THREE songs. A 10 minute set, tops. TEN MINUTES! But we were refused the right.
In the process of the promoter refusing to let us take the stage, one of his hired help decided that despite the fact that every member of the band was on the stage at the time and he could’ve spoken to any of us, he felt the best option was to get in the face of our drummer’s girlfriend and verbally assault her. Because, you know, she’s obviously responsible for the promoter’s incompetence. If he had something to say, he could’ve spoken to ANY of us, but he chose the mature option and got in the face of a girl that’s barely 5’0” and doesn’t weigh more than 100 lbs.
Somewhere in the exchange of the money, the screaming at girls, etc. was going on, and AFTER we were refused the right to play, we were made a last-minute offer to move all of our equipment (which was already on the stage) to the side stage and play there if we wanted to, but that we would have to wait until Stephen Jerzak was finished (who also got bumped from the main stage due to the promoter’s incompetence). So instead of playing at 7:15 on the main stage as advertised & planned, at almost 10:00 (when most of our fans were already leaving), we were told that we could still play the side stage but had to wait for another band to play there first. In summary, we basically got offered the side stage at what would have wound up being around 11pm — well after almost everyone who paid almost $30 to see us had to leave and almost FOUR HOURS after we were scheduled to play, not to mention while Shwayze was supposed to be on.
Had we been told earlier in the night that we were not going to be allowed to play as advertised and been offered the side stage at an earlier point in the evening, we would gladly have taken it so that our fans could see us play, despite the fact that forcing bands to play on different stages because of the mismanagement of the show by a promoter could easily be taken as a breach of contract. We would’ve done what we could to help the show. Like we did by trading time slots with Disco, agreeing to cut more than half our set, etc. But for them to make a last-minute offer of a side stage time slot of around 11pm instead of a the main stage at 7:15 isn’t fair to us OR our fans. Especially when we would essentially be the LAST band to play, aside from Shwayze, who we would have to be up against, forcing fans to choose who to watch.
Now might be a good time to add that we originally had planned to play a hometown show next weekend (March 27) since we hadn’t played Dallas in a few months, but when we were offered this show, we took a pay cut (only $100 as opposed to the money we could make putting on our own show) because we thought it would be fun. And because NONE of this has EVER been about the money to any of us. We’ve played for no money on multiple occasions and had to dig into our friends and families band accounts just to pay for gas. But that’s beside the point, for now. The point is, all of our fans who had been waiting MONTHS to see us play Dallas again were coming to THIS show to see us, as it was our ONLY scheduled Dallas show of 2010 until the summer or so. So all of out Dallas fans that haven’t seen us since 2009 and came to the show are now out $25+ and still haven’t seen us perform.
But anyway, back to the promoter refusing to let us play after Disco. His reasoning for cutting our set? “The show’s running late and if it goes past midnight, the cops are going to show up and start arresting people.” FROM THE START, the show was scheduled to end at 11:10, and all day long the show was running MORE than two hours behind, yet somehow the promoter failed to realize that maybe something should be done to get the show back on track until it was almost 9:30. So he took it out on us. Instead of making changes all day long / moving some of the earlier bands around / shortening everyone’s sets / etc, he decided to just let EVERYTHING run behind and then tell us we couldn’t play. Because apparently it’s OUR fault.
We eventually played an acoustic set to the 15 or so of our fans that were still around after Stephen Jerzak finished on the side stage, but there were at least 50 kids that I talked to that said that the paid to attend the show to see us play, but had to leave because the show was behind and they had to go to school, etc. Let’s do some math here. For the sake of this argument, we’ll assume that those were the ONLY kids that came to see us and that NONE of those kids bought VIP tickets or day-of tickets, and only paid $25 for the show. That means that the promoter made AT LEAST $1,250 off of our fans, some of whom drove for MORE THAN THREE HOURS to come see us but didn’t get to see us play. Did they get their money back? No. Did we get that money? No. It went into the promoter’s pockets (though probably back out as quickly as it went in considering everyone they owed after the night was over). Still, the money should’ve gone back to the people who paid to see a band perform and didn’t get to. The whole thing comes down to us being advertised for a show and the promoter taking our FANS money and then not delivering the product as advertised (our performance, Shwayze’s, etc).
We waited around after the show and asked for our fans to be given refunds, and even offered to give back the money we were given earlier in the night because NONE of this was about the money, but the promoter refused. All the promoter could say was, “you guys got paid and the tickets said no refunds, so there’s nothing more we can do.” They claimed that since there were 20 other bands playing, the fans go their money’s worth, despite the face that I know that there were plenty of people who paid only to see us or 1 or 2 other bands. So anywhere from 33-100% of what they paid for wasn’t delivered.
To make it worse, not only did the people working the show not seem to be concerned that they were cheating paying customers out of their money, they even had the audacity to take to twitter the next day and LAUGH AT the kids whose nights they ruined. * * * THE PEOPLE WORKING THE SHOW TOOK MONEY FROM KIDS, DIDN’T DELIVER A PRODUCT AND THEN LAUGHED AT THE KIDS WHO COMPLAINED. * * * Talk about a slap in the face. It was actions like that, and the attitude that the promoter had through the entire ordeal that had every fan, band, tour manager & venue employee on OUR side of the situation (with the exception of those the promoter forced to fight his battles for him while he hid backstage). And even THEY apologized for his actions.
You may notice that I haven’t really mentioned anything about Shwayze not playing in any of this because I have no idea what their reasoning was for not performing, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it had something to do without he fact that they were basically offered a 30 minute set (instead of an hour) that would have STARTED well after the show was originally scheduled to be OVER, and after most fans had already gone home. It also could’ve been the promoter’s decision not to provide what was contractually required in Shwayze’s rider. At one point, the promoter had people walking around backstage trying to borrow equipment from all of the other bands playing because they had failed to provide the great required on Shwayze’s rider. And this was at about 8 or 9 PM. They literally waited until 8 PM on the DAY OF THE SHOW to try to fill the requests on the rider. It doesn’t get much more unprofessional than that.
Anyway, I again want to state that I do not know the exact reason for Shwayze’s cancelation, I’m only speculating here. The only interaction we had with anyone from the Shwayze crew was them telling us, “We’re sorry you guys didn’t get to play. That’s fucked up. This whole thing is a disaster.” I also don’t know what happened with someone assaulting one of the artists / getting arrested / etc. as I was backstage trying to talk to promoter into offering our fans refunds, but the lack of security / control of the stage / etc. was just another sign of how little control the promoter had over the entire evening. And having seen everything else that went on Sunday night, I’m not surprised it came to that.
In summary, the entire disaster of an evening was solely the fault of the promoter. I don’t know how many shows he’s done before, but from our one interaction, it’s clear that he had absolutely no control and didn’t seem to care enough to do anything about it. He refused to let us take the stage, even after we made numerous concessions (shorter set, allowing other bands to play before us, etc) and then chose to have one of his people verbally assault one of our girlfriends. So you can probably see why we came out of the night pretty pissed off.
ALSO: It’s important to reinforce the point here that NONE OF THIS WAS THE FAULT OF THE VENUE, ONLY THE PROMOTER. Please DO NOT let this disaster of a show affect your view of Live@Mokah as a venue, because they venue staff were more than cooperative and were actually some of the people most vocal on the behalf of the fans who were cheated out of their money. One of the sound guys was probably the biggest help out of everyone there. They’re wonderful people, and I personally can’t wait to play another show there.
Either way, the fact is that if you paid to see us play and didn’t get to, you deserve your money back. Or if you paid to see Disco Curtis play and had to leave before they got to play, you deserve your money back. I won’t even go into the people who paid $50 or whatever it was to meet Shwayze and didn’t get to. I feel even worse for them, but I heard that SOME of them MIGHT be getting some sort of refunds, but I’ll believe it when I see it. Meanwhile, the rest of the paying crowd was told they couldn’t receive refunds.
I’m sorry that this is SO long, but I felt the need to be as extensive as possible so that you know EXACTLY what happened. I’m extremely sorry to all of our fans that paid ridiculous amounts of money to come see us play and didn’t get to, but we want you to know that we made every concession we possibly could to play for you, we just weren’t allowed to. It was out of our control. Thanks to those of you who stuck around and hung out while we played acoustic, and voiced your concerns on our behalf. We love you all. There was even one girl who grounded herself because she refused to leave because she was waiting to see us perform. I swear, we have the greatest fans in the world, and we’re going to make it up to you.
We’re going to be putting on a free show with Disco Curtis, Satellites & some more of our friends for everyone who came to see us or any of the other bands play and didn’t get to for one reason or another, or for the people who couldn’t afford a $30 ticket in the first place (don’t even get me started on that one). It’s the least we can do. Since the promoter isn’t willing to give you your money back, we’re at least going to make sure that you get your money’s worth. We’ll let you know when / where the show will be as soon as we get all of the details ironed out, but until then, I just want you guys to know that we’re doing absolutely EVERYTHING in our power to make this up to you. And we’re going to try to schedule it at a time and location that will allow the most possible people to come out and have fun with all of us.
Music is too wonderful and the Dallas scene is too great to let some unprofessional promoter ruin everything for everyone. So while this entire experience was a giant disaster, and the worst thing I’ve seen in more than 7 years of touring, playing shows, etc — we’re going to take all of this and turn it into a positive, fun-filled night for everyone that will be more fun than Sunday ever could have been. Because there’s no reason to focus on negativity in life.
So there you have it. 3,500 words I should never have had to type. Stay positive, kids. We love you all and we’ll see you soon. <3
— Mike Ray & THE HIT
