- glad to see harold mckay isn’t the only one making bad decisions
You know what’s really awesome about blogging for Scene and Heard? I still get excited when the city is buzzing with those “OH, here comes a big crazy concert!” announcements. And two days/weeks/months later, there’s the inevitable; “Actually, we lied! Concert canceled! Haha ya dummy!” I should know better now. I know, I should.
As most of you know by now, the plug has been pulled on the Friday July 23 concert for Halifax Rocks. My feelings on the headliner Kid Rock have been adequately documented and I will say that I am not unhappy at this recent turn of events. It will be nice to not have to race out of the city to the furthest possible point away from the source of the sound (I had been considering Newfoundland.)
As of this writing, Power Promotional Events hasn’t given much (or any) indication as to why this happened and I don’t know enough about concert promotion to speculate (word on the street is “scheduling problems”), but as much as I rejoice that Kid Rock’s annihilating good ol’ boy mediocrity won’t be stanking up the Common this year, I’m anxious that Halifax is developing a reputation as a city that continually puts money into shitty entertainment and cancels concerts on a whim. Please do not get me wrong; I love Halifax in the summer. It is the best place – there is nowhere I’d rather be. However, a lot of people I know make fun of Toronto and Calgary pretty regularly, and I think it merits pointing out that Toronto had Iggy Pop and the New York Dolls play in public squares for free this summer, while Calgary recently pulled off one of the best Canadian festival lineups I’ve seen in ages. In the summer. This is the time of year when similar things should be happening in Halifax. Why the hell can’t we do that? RIGHT NOW?
Now that those bad vibes have been expunged – hey! Who’s going to De La Soul?
This article appears in Jul 1-7, 2010.
Halifax can and does put on a comparable festival lineup to Sled Island every year in the form of the Halifax Pop Explosion so that is kind of a strange point of comparison. (although this year’s SI line up was definitely a step above most indie rock festivals in recent years)
Pop Explosion is the best thing ever and I am not arguing that. I’m talking about summer stuff. I’m not saying Halifax is always lame in the summer, music-wise, but this year is killing me.
Scheduling conflict is promoter speak for poor ticket sales.
If you read between the lines on what they are offering for refunds you get a better understanding on just how poorly the July 23 AND July 24 shows are selling. Instead of getting a full refund for Kid Rock you are allowed to use your ticket to get into the July 24 BEP show. Is it really that bad Harold?
I think there will be boatloads of comp tickets for the BEP show AND they are performing a smaller set later that evening at The Palace for much less than $100.
Straight Edge people suck.
I purchased a weekend pass to the Halifax Rocks concert scene but was refused a weekend refund even though the weekend turned out to be only a Saturday show. Big difference for someone from out of town. Two weeks ago I sent my Kid Rock tickets to Halifax for a refund and they can’t find them. There is no record of me sending my tickets in. So I think that someone nabbed them to get into the BEP concert. What a stupid set up. Who does that? Why would they use one concert name to get into another headliner. Makes no sense. Now I am out $362 dollars all because of the way Halifax sets up their concerts. I am pissed.