A local conservative effort to hold a concert rally in opposition to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte has fallen through.
Entitled “Rock the Red,” the concert was actually to feature three country acts: Travis Tritt, Charlie Daniels, and Lee Brice. Announced in June, as reported in the Charlotte Observer, it would have been held at the 11,000-seat Bojangles Coliseum, and was the brainchild of area political consultant Jason Lambert. But something went wrong.
“They didn’t meet their financial obligations by the deadline we require,” said Kimberly Meesters, director of marketing for the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority, which sent organizers the cancellation notice Wednesday. People who did buy tickets can obtain refunds.
For its own part, the Rock the Red organization is blaming the CRVA for blunders and a lack of promotional support that prevented ticket sales from taking off.
For example, they told TPM, the event’s Ticketmaster listing was mislabeled until last week as a Republican event — they have no direct affiliation with the GOP — and did not list the musical acts.
“So if you’d heard that the Charlie Daniels Band was coming to Charlotte on September 5th, and you wanted to go see him, you wouldn’t have been able to find that on Ticketmaster,” said John Snyder, an attorney retained by Rock the Red.
“The correct listing was not put up until last week,” Lambert claimed.
Meesters did not immediately have information on the Ticketmaster listing, but did note that the contract “does not call for us to manage the marketing of the event.”
The Rock the Red committee is still planning to hold an event next week with Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz. But the planned musical entertainment has officially fallen through, for lack of a concert space.
The group posted a statement to Facebook Thursday, castigating the city — but also containing a hopeful note:
Rock the Red wishes to honor our donors supporters by hosting an event at a different venue. We pray that with such little time and notice we will be able to accomplish this. We REFUSE to be bullied by the liberal city of Charlotte and their counterparts. We ask for your support, and help. Please join us, and we will keep you informed.
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