Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2005 | ||
Bad Links? | Ticket contract puts concert in jeopardyBy JOHN MUNFORD The organizer of a Christian concert popular with young people is worried that new requirements at the Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater will cause significant problems this year. Chiefly, John Paone is concerned about a new policy requiring tickets for all amphitheater events to have their tickets sold through Ticketmaster. Paone said he only learned of this less than two weeks ago, and 3,000 tickets for the 4 Nights in October concert have already been sold. Worse yet, Ticketmaster officials are sticking to their contract with the amphitheater, saying it would be in violation of that contract if Ticketmaster doesnt exclusively sell the tickets, confirmed Amphitheater Manager Randy Angrisano. The Peachtree City Tourism Association, which runs the amphitheater, committed Wednesday night to continuing to help Paone appeal the matter to Ticketmaster. Paone said being able to sell the tickets at churches is vital to the concerts success. Some churches buy quite a few tickets and hand them out to members of the public for outreach purposes, he added. Paone, speaking to the association Wednesday night, was upset that he hadnt learned about the Ticketmaster issue months ago instead of about two weeks ago. He said its no problem for Ticketmaster to start selling tickets for the event also. I sure hope theres something we can work out, Paone said. Theres no way we can make this happen without selling to individual churches. Association Chairman Murray Weed reminded Paone that technically he didnt have a contract with the association for the event. Still, Weed said the association would allow the concert to be held as planned for Oct. 6-10. If you want to have a show there, then by gosh youre going to have a show there, Weed said. Paone said he thought the association last year approved a two-year contract to allow the concert at the amphitheater, but Weed said the group decided to limit it to one year. Paone contended that the association must have planned to have the concert this year, because it used attendance figures from the concert to market its concession contract. No one makes money off the concert, which brings in some of the top Christian bands in the nation, Paone said. The bands are so popular that they attract kids who never show up at church, he added. The concept of the concert is to bring in teens to hear about suicide prevention matters, Paone said. The Georgia Baptist Childrens Home and Christian City are each provided with as many free concert tickets as they need so those children may attend also, Paone said. James Adduci of Martinis, which is the amphitheaters sole concessionaire, has agreed to waive his rights to provide concession services so the concert could see profits from food sold, Paone said. Mayor Steve Brown, who attended the meeting to support Paone, credited Adduci for making that happen. The association approved the Ticketmaster contract earlier this year in an effort to make tickets available to persons who couldnt make it by the box office to purchase tickets, such as those who live out of town and want to come in for a specific show. Ticketmaster does not begin selling tickets until after all of the season ticket applications have been processed. |
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