WEBVTT - Louis Messina 0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:13.560 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the Bob Leftstets Podcast. My 0:00:13.760 --> 0:00:18.759 guest today is concert promoter of Louis Messina. Louis. 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:24.320 Is it ever Lewis, No, it's never. Yeah. It's really 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:27.040 funny because when I introduced myself, I go, Hi, I'm 0:00:27.080 --> 0:00:30.400 Lewis Messina, but you can call me Louis, but don't 0:00:30.400 --> 0:00:32.960 call me lou Okay. 0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:37.400 So what differences have you noticed, if any, in the 0:00:37.440 --> 0:00:43.200 concert promotion business post COVID as opposed to pre COVID. 0:00:43.800 --> 0:00:49.800 The difference is is that the abundance of acts that 0:00:49.880 --> 0:00:54.560 are on the road. It's just, you know, that is 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:58.480 the biggest difference. There's so many shows going on at 0:00:58.480 --> 0:01:02.279 the same time. Even though everything has been so so successful, 0:01:02.640 --> 0:01:07.880 I'm really concerned that one day and maybe soon, that 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:11.880 people are going to say I have no more money. 0:01:12.080 --> 0:01:14.160 I've been to too many shows. I can't go to 0:01:14.920 --> 0:01:19.080 fifteen shows like I did because I've seen everybody, or 0:01:19.560 --> 0:01:23.280 I've been at home and COVID's over. I don't know. 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:29.000 I'm just looking forward to this upcoming year and I 0:01:29.040 --> 0:01:31.640 don't know if I mean that's the big difference. There's 0:01:31.640 --> 0:01:34.720 a lot of big difference. The country is different today 0:01:34.760 --> 0:01:38.319 than it was pre COVID. In my opinion, the political 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:44.039 landscape is crazy. It's insane, and people, I think are 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:45.960 getting over the COVID blues. 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:50.560 Okay, so how hard is it to get a building 0:01:50.600 --> 0:01:52.400 and how far in advanced do you have to book 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:52.800 a tour? 0:01:53.800 --> 0:01:56.880 Well? The good thing, the way I operate, I'm waiting. 0:01:57.120 --> 0:02:00.720 I'm waiting in advance. I know it artists are doing 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:04.680 two years from now because it's not like I'm you know, 0:02:08.160 --> 0:02:11.440 I call myself a career promoter, not a tour promoter, 0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:14.840 because it's about not only what we're doing this tour, 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:18.560 but what we're doing two three tours from now. And 0:02:18.680 --> 0:02:22.080 so I'm already booking in twenty six and twenty seven 0:02:22.560 --> 0:02:26.120 right now because I know what I mean. Everything's always 0:02:26.160 --> 0:02:28.959 subject to change, of course, but I know what most 0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:32.360 of my autists are doing in years to come. Unlike 0:02:32.880 --> 0:02:35.760 you know, when I get a phone call, go hey, 0:02:36.440 --> 0:02:39.080 we're looking for you know, an offer, and we're going 0:02:39.120 --> 0:02:42.320 to start in January. That's not how we do business. 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:48.600 Okay. Recently, relative to you, you picked up the Lumineers. 0:02:49.120 --> 0:02:53.160 You're big on career development, taking artists into the stratosphere. 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:56.840 The Lumineers did play a stadium in Chicago. What did 0:02:56.880 --> 0:02:59.000 you see in the Lumineers that you wanted to work 0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:00.880 with them? 0:03:01.240 --> 0:03:07.840 Uh? Musically, I just love their music and and uh 0:03:08.600 --> 0:03:11.440 when I first got involved with them, they were there 0:03:11.560 --> 0:03:17.480 was sort of like kind of you know, just hipster 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:22.880 band sort of, and they had a very select audience, 0:03:22.919 --> 0:03:26.320 I believe, you know. And then all of a sudden 0:03:26.320 --> 0:03:31.160 they just developed into superstars. I mean, Wes has become like, 0:03:31.480 --> 0:03:35.760 I mean, he is a superstar, and the band is 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:40.040 has changed. They've got a couple of new members, and it's, 0:03:40.120 --> 0:03:44.080 in my opinion, it's I just saw I just saw 0:03:44.200 --> 0:03:46.720 magic and them that That's that's all I can say. 0:03:46.760 --> 0:03:49.880 I heard magic and their music, and I saw the 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:54.480 way that they connected with their audience. Just like everybody. 0:03:54.600 --> 0:03:57.840 That's what I'm always looking for the connection between the 0:03:57.960 --> 0:04:01.760 artist and audience. And they have that connection and they 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:03.360 are growing by the day. 0:04:03.840 --> 0:04:06.200 Okay, in the old days, everything was driven by the 0:04:06.280 --> 0:04:11.040 record company and radio. That's not necessarily the case these days. 0:04:11.080 --> 0:04:13.520 So with a band like the Lumineers, what can the 0:04:13.560 --> 0:04:16.960 promoter do to grow the audience for the band? 0:04:18.160 --> 0:04:22.400 Wow? What can we do? It's almost like, well, we 0:04:22.440 --> 0:04:28.200 do everything because we like to look at ourselves as 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:35.040 as a connection to the artist, the manager, the label, 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:37.839 where we're just not we just don't want to be 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:41.400 the promoter. We want to be the artist partner. So 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:45.200 we're involved in all of their decisions with them, with 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:48.359 the record company. So we're all on the same page 0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:52.520 and we all have goals. And I think that is 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:58.919 where how you see something and then you take gambles, 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:01.719 you know, like we we played two stadiums last tour, 0:05:01.800 --> 0:05:05.520 we played Denver and Chicago, and I committed that we're 0:05:05.520 --> 0:05:09.600 going to play eight to ten uh on you know, 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:13.640 on the next tour because I just feel it. But 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:17.760 I think that that is it. It's just that we 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:23.120 just don't put shows on sale. We're actually we're going 0:05:23.240 --> 0:05:27.880 deeper than that with the autists and their entire organization, 0:05:28.480 --> 0:05:33.240 not just us selling tickets. It's selling it's selling them 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:36.920 and selling their career and selling their brand. And that's 0:05:36.960 --> 0:05:37.880 what we're trying to do. 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:42.320 Oh, someone like the lumineers who are on their way up, 0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:44.880 can you go a little deeper what you might do 0:05:45.240 --> 0:05:47.400 to grow to get people into the building. 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:51.280 Well, first of all, we play the right buildings, and 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:55.440 unlike a lot of autists that take, you know, take 0:05:55.600 --> 0:06:00.120 these tour deals. If we're only supposed to do thirty 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:02.600 five shows, that's all the shows we do, not fifty 0:06:02.680 --> 0:06:05.960 or sixty. And we pick our markets and we know 0:06:06.160 --> 0:06:10.279 where our growth is because you know, I'm a big 0:06:10.320 --> 0:06:13.400 believer in historicals and so if I saw where they 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:17.040 did X amount of people that time, I'm always trying 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:21.520 to grow. Help the artists grow twenty five thirty five 0:06:21.600 --> 0:06:26.840 percent each tour because there's enough people to fill every 0:06:26.880 --> 0:06:29.120 arena in every stateium in a country that listens to 0:06:29.120 --> 0:06:33.479 their music. So now you know the fans, they're hardcore fans. 0:06:33.800 --> 0:06:36.360 They just got to hear one message, one thing from 0:06:36.400 --> 0:06:41.039 the Lumineers. But now I've got to convince along with 0:06:41.120 --> 0:06:44.480 the band. But my job is to convince people that 0:06:44.600 --> 0:06:46.840 should I go to the Lumineers, should I go see 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:49.800 this band on that band. I've got to create this 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:56.000 imaginary world about going to see the Lumineers and how 0:06:56.040 --> 0:06:59.039 wonderful it's going to be. And so that is kind 0:06:59.080 --> 0:07:02.320 of my job is or as you know, throwing them 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:07.400 throwing magic dust on the whole on the whole program 0:07:07.480 --> 0:07:10.960 and if that makes any sense. But that's what I do. 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:13.120 I do. I just throw magic dust on it. 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:16.880 Okay, well, there's magic dust once the show plays, and 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:21.040 magic dust to get people in the building. So if 0:07:21.080 --> 0:07:23.840 you're playing a stadium that's somewhere between thirty five and 0:07:23.880 --> 0:07:26.680 sixty thousand seats, you're gonna have a certain number of 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:28.240 people who are going to say, I have to see 0:07:28.240 --> 0:07:31.640 this is my favorite band. How do you convince the 0:07:31.680 --> 0:07:33.920 rest of the people. What's the magic dust you might 0:07:34.000 --> 0:07:36.680 employ to get the rest of the people to come. 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:42.160 Well, you know, through messaging if it's you know, it's 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:48.120 through repetition of your message and talking to people, not 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:52.120 talking at people. That's hard really to explain. And it's 0:07:52.160 --> 0:07:55.400 like when you see a commercial on television, officer, Oh wow, 0:07:55.480 --> 0:07:58.760 that's a cool commercial, and then you want to dig 0:07:58.800 --> 0:08:01.880 a little deeper. So if I can create this fantasy 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:09.120 or that the Lumineers is a mussye show by through 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:15.240 repetition of my messaging and through different messaging, getting fans 0:08:15.280 --> 0:08:18.480 talking to each other, because that's the key thing, because 0:08:18.600 --> 0:08:20.960 you know, I grew up in a world where you know, 0:08:21.680 --> 0:08:25.000 the best form of advertising is word of mouth, and 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:29.720 so I can get fans start talking to other fans. 0:08:30.160 --> 0:08:32.640 That's the key thing is to get the chatter gone. 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:38.760 And so we just you know, if people weren't, if 0:08:38.760 --> 0:08:40.520 the fish are inviting on this side of the boat, 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:43.560 we have fishing on the other side of the boat. 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:47.320 So our messaging has to continue and we have to 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:50.400 we have to continue looking for the people that we 0:08:50.480 --> 0:08:53.599 can convince to go see a band like the Lumineers 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:57.120 or whomever, you know, George Strait, whoever I work for. 0:08:57.760 --> 0:09:01.160 Okay, the old days, you know texas As GM days, whatever, 0:09:01.320 --> 0:09:05.120 you just advertise on the rock stations. How do you 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:07.160 reach these people today? 0:09:08.600 --> 0:09:13.040 Well, I mean, now it's all I mean, the majority 0:09:13.080 --> 0:09:17.280 of our advertising is social media. I mean we're still 0:09:17.280 --> 0:09:23.400 buying you know, regular radio and Harvey zero newspaper ads, 0:09:23.440 --> 0:09:28.440 but most of our advertisings is you know, online advertising, 0:09:28.640 --> 0:09:31.600 and we have you know, we'll we'll, we'll, we'll partner 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:36.000 with you know, we'll partner with Aol or Google, or 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:41.440 or will partner with different entities. And so not only 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:45.200 are we reaching out just to autist fans, but we'll 0:09:45.280 --> 0:09:48.920 keep on expanding the number of people we reach out to. 0:09:49.600 --> 0:09:55.120 If it's through the buildings email. This is if it's 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:57.800 through the ticketing company, if it's through the fan clubs, 0:09:58.120 --> 0:10:02.080 we just keep on growing and own and growing the 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:07.079 people that we are who we're trying to reach. We 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:12.320 you know, Scott Swift always tells me, you know, there's 0:10:12.360 --> 0:10:14.560 so many billions of people that live in the world. 0:10:14.800 --> 0:10:16.559 If we only get one percent of it, I mean, 0:10:16.679 --> 0:10:18.920 we can sell out everywhere. So that's all we're trying 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:21.240 to do, is get one percent of the population. That 0:10:21.240 --> 0:10:22.560 shouldn't be a tough thing to do. 0:10:24.040 --> 0:10:26.839 Let's talk about Taylor Swift. You know, she wrapped up 0:10:26.840 --> 0:10:30.160 her US tour a few months ago. If you could 0:10:30.200 --> 0:10:33.560 snap your fingers and do anything different, what might you 0:10:33.640 --> 0:10:34.280 do different? 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:40.680 Clone her? There's nothing I would do different. I mean, 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:45.280 you know it was so big. As I was talking 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:49.439 to you and Aspen about there is such a demand, 0:10:49.480 --> 0:10:53.040 we knew it was going to be big, and we 0:10:53.160 --> 0:10:56.400 said it. That's while we only set one city a week, 0:10:56.800 --> 0:10:59.160 so we knew that there was gould be multiples. But 0:10:59.240 --> 0:11:04.240 you know, if I would have known, I mean, unfortunately, 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:07.080 there was ten times. I mean, there was millions and 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:11.040 millions of people trying to get tickets. You know, we're 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:13.560 trying to get one hundred and fifty thousand tickets and 0:11:13.679 --> 0:11:18.079 two million people registered. If we would have staggered because 0:11:18.080 --> 0:11:21.800 our new approach is slow and easy and rather than 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:25.199 like going out and at one time, I think that's 0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:28.440 the only thing we might have done different. But it's 0:11:28.480 --> 0:11:31.800 been Pitcher perfect. I mean the whole time. I mean, 0:11:34.040 --> 0:11:36.840 the fans are loving it. She's having the best time 0:11:36.920 --> 0:11:42.280 of her life. Her shows are incredible, her fans are incredible, 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:45.120 and you know, she's ready to start in a couple 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:49.160 of weeks in Asia and then you know, it's off 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:52.360 around the world this year. I mean, she's working all 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:53.360 the way through December. 0:11:54.440 --> 0:11:59.880 And what is your involvement in the foreign dates we're 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:00.720 to see? 0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:08.080 We're involved with Tailor Worldwide. We have local partners around 0:12:08.120 --> 0:12:12.760 the around the world, but we're involved with worldwide. 0:12:13.080 --> 0:12:18.360 Okay, so let's delve into the ticketing. Let's delve in 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:22.719 at the most basic level, the fees. What is your 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:24.280 view point on the fees. 0:12:24.880 --> 0:12:33.240 They're ridiculous and I don't know how they got that high. 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:40.800 And I think it's sad that ticketing is the cost 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:45.559 of service charges ship They're like, you know, a third 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:49.520 of the cost of the tickets, which is ridiculous, but 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:52.240 there's nothing I can do about it. I mean, I 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:55.880 need to have a ticketing system. So if it's Ticketmaster 0:12:56.080 --> 0:12:59.960 or Access or you know, any of these, you know, 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:03.520 seat geeks, their fees are ridiculous. But there's so many, 0:13:03.600 --> 0:13:07.240 you know, so many people with their hands in the pot. 0:13:07.320 --> 0:13:10.080 That's why, you know. I mean, you have the ticketing company, 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:12.560 you got the building, you got the promoter, you know 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:16.760 all you know having their fingers in the pot. 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:22.280 So with all these incredibly successful acts, to what degree 0:13:22.400 --> 0:13:27.199 can you as the promoter negotiate the fees to your advantage? 0:13:28.520 --> 0:13:33.680 It's very difficult because unless it's a very inexpensive ticket. 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:37.160 If I'm trying to sell a twenty dollars ticket, then 0:13:37.240 --> 0:13:39.480 I will go to a ticketing company and say can 0:13:39.520 --> 0:13:42.360 we limit the fees at this, But when you're talking 0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:46.600 about higher up prices, there's little to no control or 0:13:46.760 --> 0:13:52.840 say that I have because it's what it is. It's 0:13:53.120 --> 0:13:55.760 very difficult to negotiate their fees down. 0:13:57.240 --> 0:14:00.720 Okay, the two big ticketing companies in the US you 0:14:00.800 --> 0:14:04.160 mentioned Access and Live Nation. Ticket Master which is owned 0:14:04.160 --> 0:14:07.960 by Live Nation, part of Live Nation. Now you have 0:14:08.080 --> 0:14:12.360 these super scaled shows. But a lot of people where 0:14:12.400 --> 0:14:14.720 the shows are playing in smaller building or they're not 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:20.040 instantly going clean, they get an advertising bump from ticket Master. 0:14:20.160 --> 0:14:24.680 They feel being on Ticketmaster raises a weirdness. Is that 0:14:24.840 --> 0:14:28.200 something you've experienced relative to using other ticketing companies. 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:35.240 Well, Ticketmaster is the most established company, but Access is 0:14:36.400 --> 0:14:40.880 gaining ground big time. Ticketmasters just because they're part of 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:45.000 Live Nation and you know, they've signed all these you know, 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:49.920 building contracts and they were way ahead of the game. 0:14:50.040 --> 0:14:54.320 But I think people when they think of ticketing, ticket 0:14:54.320 --> 0:15:00.760 Master comes to mind right away, so the manages people 0:15:00.800 --> 0:15:04.200 are familiar with it. Even if it's not on Ticketmaster. 0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:09.280 People go to the Ticketmaster site or go to an 0:15:09.360 --> 0:15:13.840 automatic brokers site. You know, they'll go they think they're 0:15:13.880 --> 0:15:16.760 going through Access or Ticketmaster and they wind up on 0:15:16.840 --> 0:15:21.200 a seek geek site. And you know, unfortunately people are 0:15:21.880 --> 0:15:24.920 especially a popular show, people are so anxious to get 0:15:24.920 --> 0:15:27.440 tickets they're not even knowing where they're buying them from. 0:15:27.720 --> 0:15:32.320 But being on Ticketmaster, you know, they're the most established. 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:34.520 That's all I could. It's not like, oh, I'm going 0:15:34.560 --> 0:15:37.600 to sell fifteen percent more tickets because I'm a Ticketmaster. 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:42.080 You know, if I have, you know, a hot act, 0:15:42.200 --> 0:15:44.440 I could sell it out of my trunk of my car. 0:15:44.760 --> 0:15:48.840 But people will find where the tickets are. But I 0:15:48.840 --> 0:15:51.120 think Ticketmaster is the most stable. I'm going to just 0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:54.520 leave it at that. They're the most established. But we 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:57.600 do need to have other ticketing platforms out there. 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:04.400 Okay, in other countries you can buy the tickets from 0:16:04.560 --> 0:16:13.000 multiple outlets. Do you think that's a superior system. 0:16:13.280 --> 0:16:17.160 My experience is it's not a superior system. I mean, 0:16:18.160 --> 0:16:23.640 like in London and at Wembley Stadium, you know, the 0:16:23.680 --> 0:16:27.680 stadium is divided in half where ticket massa gets half 0:16:27.680 --> 0:16:30.720 the tickets and access gets half the tickets. That works 0:16:30.760 --> 0:16:33.560 really well, but in a lot of like when we 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:37.000 were down in South America, I mean the ticketing was 0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:41.320 really kind of funky because I mean we had, you 0:16:41.360 --> 0:16:43.960 know a lot of times the promoters controlled the ticketing. 0:16:44.240 --> 0:16:47.200 They have their own systems, and so it's not as 0:16:47.360 --> 0:16:50.480 organized when you leave North America. It's a different world 0:16:50.520 --> 0:16:56.120 out there, it really is, and it's not as you know, 0:16:56.720 --> 0:17:05.120 it's it's not as as current as American ticketing. Uh, 0:17:05.400 --> 0:17:08.920 it's just a lot of work and a lot of detail. Uh. 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:14.160 To to to go into countries outside of North America 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:17.320 and get the service that we normally have here. 0:17:18.080 --> 0:17:19.879 How do you make sure you're not ripped off in 0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:20.640 these countries? 0:17:21.280 --> 0:17:25.960 Well, you you have to pay close attention and and 0:17:26.080 --> 0:17:29.320 I guarantee you we're getting ripped off, you know. And 0:17:29.680 --> 0:17:31.919 I don't think as much as it used to be, 0:17:31.920 --> 0:17:37.399 because when I first started doing international shows, I always 0:17:37.400 --> 0:17:40.399 felt like all the international promoters were in collision with 0:17:40.440 --> 0:17:43.760 each other because the rent you know, the building rents 0:17:43.800 --> 0:17:47.240 were always the same, all the cost was always the same. 0:17:47.760 --> 0:17:52.840 And honestly, I just said, this is bs. If you 0:17:52.880 --> 0:17:55.760 want my act, then I want I. You know, we're 0:17:55.800 --> 0:17:57.760 not gonna do it your way. We're gonna we're gonna 0:17:57.800 --> 0:18:00.960 louis Ie this thing, and we're well, you know, I 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:03.119 need to know where I need to know what's behind 0:18:03.160 --> 0:18:06.800 the curtain. So I mean, if you don't want the act, 0:18:06.840 --> 0:18:09.919 I don't need you man, you know. And and so 0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:14.080 when you have the power of someone you know, as 0:18:14.119 --> 0:18:17.040 strong as someone like Taylor, you get you get to 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:18.040 look behind the curtain. 0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:23.240 Okay. In some of these countries, the economics only work 0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:27.640 through sponsorships because the public can only afford so much 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:30.800 for tickets. Is that a factor with Taylor Swift? 0:18:32.200 --> 0:18:34.840 Not really. She wanted to do you know, Taylor's never 0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:36.879 done a world tour, and she wanted to do a 0:18:36.920 --> 0:18:40.840 world tour. And uh, when sponsorships come in, they come in. 0:18:40.880 --> 0:18:44.119 But it wasn't the driving point of she had to 0:18:44.119 --> 0:18:48.960 have a sponsor to go tour. You know, if we 0:18:49.200 --> 0:18:54.400 have sponsors, it's I'm from New Orleans. It's called land yap. 0:18:54.480 --> 0:18:57.520 You know, it's a little something extra. And so it's 0:18:57.640 --> 0:19:01.720 not that we it was mandatory that we had to 0:19:01.720 --> 0:19:06.280 go seek sponsors in other countries, but we did because 0:19:07.160 --> 0:19:09.719 she's such you know, she's the biggest star and not 0:19:09.760 --> 0:19:12.359 only in the world, but one of the biggest stars 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:15.800 in history of music. So so everybody wants to be 0:19:15.880 --> 0:19:16.920 associated with her. 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:19.040 So how do you decide where to play? 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:25.840 Well, you look for the Well we knew this was 0:19:25.880 --> 0:19:26.760 a stadium tour. 0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:30.719 So now no, no, I'm talking international. So let's assume 0:19:30.800 --> 0:19:33.399 you want to go to South America. Economically, do you 0:19:33.440 --> 0:19:35.520 say I have to do a certain number of dates 0:19:35.560 --> 0:19:38.520 just to make the numbers work. Where do you decide 0:19:38.560 --> 0:19:41.119 what cities, what countries, how many shows? 0:19:41.760 --> 0:19:46.680 Well that came from uh, you know, like we went 0:19:46.760 --> 0:19:50.359 down in South America. We we only played three markets 0:19:50.560 --> 0:19:54.240 and besides Mexico City, and that's all she wanted to 0:19:54.240 --> 0:19:56.879 play where she didn't want to do a tour of 0:19:56.920 --> 0:20:02.200 South America and then around the world. She just wanted 0:20:02.200 --> 0:20:08.880 to hit every country. You know. Originally, like Canada wasn't 0:20:08.880 --> 0:20:12.440 even available when we routed this tour, but then she 0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:15.560 she got so many requests from her fans then that 0:20:15.760 --> 0:20:18.760 we added the Toronto uh, and then we added the 0:20:18.840 --> 0:20:24.240 Vancouver because fan demand and she's trying to reach her 0:20:24.480 --> 0:20:29.760 all her audience. And so that's what I'm saying. We're 0:20:29.760 --> 0:20:33.639 playing Italy, playing France where she's never played stadiums in 0:20:33.680 --> 0:20:37.200 these markets before. She's never played arenas in those markets before. 0:20:38.160 --> 0:20:42.800 I mean, she's done the UK, but but now she's 0:20:42.880 --> 0:20:46.399 you know, she's hitting almost every every country in Europe 0:20:46.480 --> 0:20:50.560 and and you know, then in the East, I mean, 0:20:50.600 --> 0:20:58.120 she's only done uh, Japan, Thailand, and Australia. So that's 0:20:58.119 --> 0:21:04.600 the only Marcus that she's done, you know, out west. 0:21:03.000 --> 0:21:07.520 And but we're doing like I think it's like ninety 0:21:07.560 --> 0:21:13.800 shows this year around the world, and we come back 0:21:14.240 --> 0:21:17.520 in North America, we added three shows and we had it. 0:21:18.160 --> 0:21:24.320 We had Miami, Indianapolis and New Orleans and Toronto and Vancouver. 0:21:24.760 --> 0:21:27.280 At the end of the tour, Okay, we know that 0:21:27.400 --> 0:21:30.320 all these shows are going to sell out. They already 0:21:30.320 --> 0:21:30.919 sold out. 0:21:31.320 --> 0:21:35.320 Right, Well, you get on the plane, it's day one, 0:21:35.960 --> 0:21:39.120 and you know you have eighty nine more days to go. 0:21:40.440 --> 0:21:43.119 Does she ever get fatigued or does she ever say 0:21:43.320 --> 0:21:45.080 this is as many as I want to play? 0:21:46.560 --> 0:21:53.040 She she is iron Woman. I mean she is. She 0:21:53.160 --> 0:21:56.960 comes off stage with so much energy and so she's 0:21:57.040 --> 0:22:02.920 so happy. She's having the best time of her life. 0:22:02.920 --> 0:22:05.960 And I can't speak. Just a few times that I've 0:22:06.040 --> 0:22:10.320 spoken to her, she's off coming off stage, and she is, 0:22:11.000 --> 0:22:14.720 she sties, she's just happy as could be. And she's 0:22:14.760 --> 0:22:19.040 I mean she's singing three hours and twenty minutes every night, 0:22:19.400 --> 0:22:23.159 sometimes doing three four five in a row. She's I 0:22:23.200 --> 0:22:26.840 told her she's bionical, and she really is. I've never 0:22:26.880 --> 0:22:30.480 seen anyone like her my whole career. 0:22:31.400 --> 0:22:33.960 So what makes her different as a person from the 0:22:34.000 --> 0:22:35.640 other superstars you work with? 0:22:37.720 --> 0:22:43.840 Man? She tail is a one of a kind. I mean, 0:22:44.040 --> 0:22:47.320 I've known her for seventeen years and she's always been 0:22:47.720 --> 0:22:53.359 that special person. She's always out, worked, out thought, you know, 0:22:54.040 --> 0:22:59.280 out hustled out everything to anybody. And she always knew 0:22:59.280 --> 0:23:05.280 where she wanted to be, even I mean when she 0:23:05.359 --> 0:23:08.520 first started. I mean she always told me. I remember 0:23:08.640 --> 0:23:11.120 before the first tour, she goes, you know, when they 0:23:11.359 --> 0:23:14.760 hired me as as their promoter, she goes, this is 0:23:14.760 --> 0:23:17.199 how I want my shows to be. You know, she 0:23:17.240 --> 0:23:19.600 already had in their head how she wanted it to be. 0:23:20.280 --> 0:23:24.159 And you know, I want all my songs to be 0:23:24.200 --> 0:23:28.440 a theatrical presentation. And then she knew what kind of 0:23:28.480 --> 0:23:31.240 affects she wanted back then, you know, way in the 0:23:31.280 --> 0:23:33.840 early days when there's not a whole bunch of money involved. 0:23:34.880 --> 0:23:39.720 But she knew, she knew who she is. She's so 0:23:39.960 --> 0:23:45.720 driven and she always I don't know, she's she's able 0:23:45.760 --> 0:23:50.720 to capture what's in her head and get it on stage. 0:23:51.000 --> 0:23:54.600 She's amazing. I mean, like I said, I'm honored to 0:23:54.640 --> 0:23:59.520 be a part of her world. And you know, I 0:23:59.560 --> 0:24:02.080 wish I could take some credit, but man, it's all her. 0:24:09.320 --> 0:24:13.120 So in terms of ticket prices, there are expensive tickets. 0:24:13.520 --> 0:24:15.920 How do you decide what the price should be? 0:24:17.760 --> 0:24:21.640 I let people decide, you know, And and that's why 0:24:21.720 --> 0:24:26.720 Dynamic pricing comes in no different than airlines and hotels. 0:24:28.080 --> 0:24:32.040 If someone wants to pay, we sought out at a 0:24:32.040 --> 0:24:35.760 certain amount and if the demand is there, But like 0:24:35.840 --> 0:24:40.399 with Taylor and Ed Sheeran, and they'll cap us where 0:24:40.440 --> 0:24:42.800 we could, they also go, this is the most you 0:24:42.800 --> 0:24:46.679 can sell a ticket far or dynamic pricing some honest 0:24:48.040 --> 0:24:52.040 you know, sky's the limit and other parts where people 0:24:54.240 --> 0:24:59.320 mistaken ticket pricing is that say, ticket prices that we're 0:24:59.400 --> 0:25:02.639 selling or four hundred and fifty dollars, but on the 0:25:02.680 --> 0:25:06.720 secondary markets they're five thousand dollars and that's what people 0:25:06.720 --> 0:25:09.480 that they can tailors selling tickets for or George Straight 0:25:09.600 --> 0:25:13.000 selling tickets for, and it's not the case. But that's 0:25:13.040 --> 0:25:17.800 where dynamic price, in my opinion, is really great because 0:25:17.880 --> 0:25:23.239 it narrows the profit margin of the secondary markets and 0:25:23.440 --> 0:25:30.560 be the artist it actually now participates in ticket sales 0:25:30.600 --> 0:25:34.040 as far as the grosses, the full gross and not 0:25:34.280 --> 0:25:38.560 just their you know a third of what the secondary 0:25:38.600 --> 0:25:41.920 markets are are selling tickets for. You know, as Bruce said, 0:25:41.960 --> 0:25:45.040 you know, why should they make the markets when these 0:25:45.640 --> 0:25:48.119 everybody's on stage is the one that's putting the work in. 0:25:49.240 --> 0:25:51.880 So once again, if you could snap your fingers. How 0:25:51.880 --> 0:25:53.120 would you beat the brokers? 0:25:54.720 --> 0:25:57.240 What we're doing as much as we can do, as 0:25:57.280 --> 0:26:01.040 far as dynamic pricing, that's the only way to do it. 0:26:01.320 --> 0:26:07.240 Limit tickets for four to six per transaction. It's just tough, man. 0:26:07.359 --> 0:26:10.000 The only way you're gonna limit it. If the government 0:26:10.080 --> 0:26:16.600 jumps in and there's national regulations on resale tickets. It's 0:26:16.640 --> 0:26:20.960 too big of a business for a promoter or an 0:26:21.040 --> 0:26:24.920 act just to fight, no matter how hard you try. 0:26:25.200 --> 0:26:27.160 I mean, you know, look at goth Brooks. He keeps 0:26:27.160 --> 0:26:29.679 on ad and shows, but there his tickets on the 0:26:29.680 --> 0:26:33.720 secondary markets. You know, everybody's tickets are. And we've tried. 0:26:34.800 --> 0:26:40.600 I've been fighting ticketing scalping my whole career, and I 0:26:40.640 --> 0:26:42.440 don't know what to do about it. I mean, only 0:26:42.560 --> 0:26:46.840 way I know how to do it, how it benefits 0:26:46.960 --> 0:26:48.880 us is through dynamic pricing. 0:26:50.440 --> 0:26:53.600 Okay, So you have these acts that go clean everywhere. 0:26:54.440 --> 0:26:59.640 What kind of deal does your company make with them? 0:26:59.320 --> 0:27:02.199 I deal that's fair for the act and fair for me. 0:27:03.440 --> 0:27:09.920 That you know, every act is different. I my you know, 0:27:10.200 --> 0:27:13.200 as you know, my model is a lot different than 0:27:14.280 --> 0:27:17.800 AEG's model or Live Nations model. I work with a 0:27:17.840 --> 0:27:21.720 dozen acts and So my deal with them is my 0:27:21.800 --> 0:27:24.280 deal with them. And you know, I'm not out there 0:27:27.240 --> 0:27:29.720 in the rent a band business, you know, that's how 0:27:29.800 --> 0:27:32.640 I call it, you know, where I'm just not writing 0:27:32.680 --> 0:27:41.920 these goofball checks and making up this these crazy deals 0:27:41.960 --> 0:27:45.920 where people think they're getting free money. I just make 0:27:45.960 --> 0:27:48.240 the most money for my artists. That's what I do. 0:27:48.560 --> 0:27:51.159 That's how my deals are different, because I'm honest with 0:27:51.200 --> 0:27:55.080 my artists. If there's a dollar on the ground, they 0:27:55.080 --> 0:28:00.199 get their piece. There's there's total transparency the way I 0:28:00.240 --> 0:28:00.800 do business. 0:28:01.640 --> 0:28:03.679 Have you ever scalped tickets as a promoter? 0:28:04.320 --> 0:28:09.720 Never that one time? Okay, So you don't believe me. 0:28:09.760 --> 0:28:11.040 I see that grin on your face. 0:28:13.960 --> 0:28:17.359 I know so many stories with people with blue chip 0:28:17.440 --> 0:28:20.360 reputations and they have scalp tickets and they have done 0:28:20.400 --> 0:28:23.000 other things. I can't sit here and say you've done it. 0:28:23.280 --> 0:28:26.199 I'm just saying that, Hey, that's something that comes up 0:28:26.240 --> 0:28:27.000 with everybody. 0:28:27.200 --> 0:28:29.760 Or they won't share the public and I could have, 0:28:30.040 --> 0:28:33.399 you know, I mean, I just like the acts. We 0:28:33.520 --> 0:28:36.160 left a lot of money on the table. But man, 0:28:36.240 --> 0:28:39.640 I wouldn't be who I am today if I would 0:28:39.640 --> 0:28:42.640 have played that game. I just wouldn't have simple as that. 0:28:43.240 --> 0:28:47.880 Okay, you're done with SFX. You go into business with 0:28:48.080 --> 0:28:52.840 George straight You had so much history in the rock business. 0:28:53.200 --> 0:28:56.280 What did you learn that was different about the country business. 0:28:59.800 --> 0:29:04.200 Nothing really different. It's well, Lowald, that's what the i'mn sure, 0:29:04.520 --> 0:29:07.320 you know. I mean, you know, I've been with George 0:29:07.320 --> 0:29:17.000 for thirty years and it's there's loyalty there where there's less. Okay, 0:29:17.960 --> 0:29:20.360 this is going to get me in trouble. There's less agents, 0:29:20.360 --> 0:29:24.360 there's less people involved. You know, you're dealing almost one 0:29:24.400 --> 0:29:26.920 on one with the autist. You know, like if I'm 0:29:26.960 --> 0:29:29.600 dealing with George, I'm dealing with George and you know, 0:29:30.000 --> 0:29:33.560 or her Wolsey, his manager. You know, if I'm dealing 0:29:33.600 --> 0:29:36.680 with Kenny Chesney, I'm dealing with Clinton him and Kenny 0:29:37.160 --> 0:29:41.480 you know, the manager. And you know, with Blake Shelton, 0:29:41.520 --> 0:29:44.520 I'm dealing directly with Novel and Blake you know, actually 0:29:44.560 --> 0:29:48.040 with Novel, you know, but there's a direct connection. It's 0:29:48.080 --> 0:29:52.719 not like I got to go to the local, you know, 0:29:52.880 --> 0:29:56.400 through the regional agent that goes to the responsible agent, 0:29:56.520 --> 0:30:00.680 that goes to the manager. You know, where that's a 0:30:01.120 --> 0:30:05.080 goofball game. So that is the difference between in my 0:30:05.200 --> 0:30:09.040 opinion country. But even though it's the relationship I have, 0:30:09.440 --> 0:30:14.200 It's like with the lumineers Joel Tamian, he's the agent. 0:30:15.200 --> 0:30:18.880 Do business with him, do business with you know, activists, 0:30:18.880 --> 0:30:22.440 the management company, and I get quick answers. It's like 0:30:22.520 --> 0:30:25.600 because going back to what I'm saying, I'm trying to 0:30:25.640 --> 0:30:29.040 be partners with the act, not just trying to be 0:30:30.240 --> 0:30:34.040 the guy that bought them for a tour or two. 0:30:34.960 --> 0:30:38.520 You know, I didn't buy them. I'm partners with them. 0:30:38.600 --> 0:30:41.280 So when you get involved with George, what's the status 0:30:41.280 --> 0:30:42.080 of his business? 0:30:43.720 --> 0:30:44.960 What do you mean status? 0:30:45.160 --> 0:30:46.360 How many tickets could he sell? 0:30:47.360 --> 0:30:50.680 Well, I mean we have packaged him with Chris Stapleton 0:30:50.960 --> 0:30:54.840 and we're selling out every stadium that we play. 0:30:55.240 --> 0:30:58.000 No, No, I'm asking something when thirty years ago, when 0:30:58.000 --> 0:31:00.200 you first got involved with George. 0:31:00.440 --> 0:31:04.000 Well, George, as long as I've been involved with When 0:31:04.000 --> 0:31:06.840 I first got involved with George, we went I mean 0:31:06.880 --> 0:31:09.040 besides a couple of amphitheaters that it played for me 0:31:09.320 --> 0:31:14.280 in early early on when I was promoting him in 0:31:14.400 --> 0:31:16.840 theaters right after he got out of the Hunky Tonk. 0:31:17.080 --> 0:31:20.400 But how I really got involved with George is creating 0:31:20.400 --> 0:31:23.680 the George Drake Country Music Festival. It started out as 0:31:23.720 --> 0:31:27.840 a one day stadium show in San Antonio that led 0:31:27.880 --> 0:31:32.520 to an annual eighteen concerts a year throughout the United 0:31:32.520 --> 0:31:36.440 States and stadiums. George was the first country stadium act 0:31:36.480 --> 0:31:37.880 ever to do a stadium tour. 0:31:38.920 --> 0:31:42.200 Tell me about that first gig in San Antonio. 0:31:42.240 --> 0:31:46.280 Well, it was George, as I remember, George, Leanne Rihimes. 0:31:46.480 --> 0:31:51.600 I mean, we had a whole bunch of people. I 0:31:51.600 --> 0:31:53.920 don't even remember who was on this show, but it 0:31:53.960 --> 0:31:59.360 was a bunch and we sold out the Alamodome and 0:31:59.400 --> 0:32:01.920 George had such a good time, and then he goes, 0:32:02.280 --> 0:32:05.440 let's do it again. Then I think the second year 0:32:05.560 --> 0:32:10.120 I added Dallas and Glenn Helen the Amphitheater that we 0:32:10.200 --> 0:32:13.720 had back then because it was so big. And then 0:32:13.800 --> 0:32:18.040 finally after the Glenn Helen show, I'll know, George and 0:32:18.080 --> 0:32:22.400 I went to play golf with Howard Rose and a 0:32:22.440 --> 0:32:27.120 friend of his, and I had a proposal for George 0:32:27.840 --> 0:32:30.959 and I said, what do you think? He goes, how 0:32:30.960 --> 0:32:33.960 many shows should we we do? And I go, I 0:32:34.000 --> 0:32:36.800 don't know, twenty thirty. He goes, how's about we start 0:32:36.840 --> 0:32:40.400 with five or ten? I anyway, we settled on eighteen. 0:32:41.280 --> 0:32:43.920 But that's how it started. I believed in it, and 0:32:44.840 --> 0:32:47.000 you know, the first year I had Tim McGraw, faith 0:32:47.040 --> 0:32:50.640 hilled Dixie Chicks, you know, I had you know, I 0:32:50.680 --> 0:32:55.760 had the who's who of country every year. I mean 0:32:55.880 --> 0:33:00.440 that's where I met you know, Tim Faye, Chesney, the Chicks. Uh, 0:33:01.400 --> 0:33:04.000 that's where I met so many people on those George 0:33:04.000 --> 0:33:05.600 Stree country music festivals. 0:33:06.120 --> 0:33:09.760 Okay, when the first one happened. Were you working with Pace? 0:33:10.320 --> 0:33:11.960 Who were you working with when you started? 0:33:12.640 --> 0:33:17.960 I was Pace, I you know, were we owned most 0:33:18.000 --> 0:33:21.000 of the amphitheaters, and then I started PACE Touring. I 0:33:21.040 --> 0:33:23.560 was always in. I was always in touring one way 0:33:23.640 --> 0:33:28.520 or the other. I mean, back in the day when 0:33:28.520 --> 0:33:33.200 Bruce Cap worked for me, we promoted you know, like 0:33:34.600 --> 0:33:42.280 New Edition the only nw A tour and uh, we 0:33:42.320 --> 0:33:45.400 did a lot of touring. But then I hired John 0:33:45.440 --> 0:33:48.840 Meglan and I started PASTE Touring and the first two 0:33:48.880 --> 0:33:51.840 tours that we did was the George Stay Country Music 0:33:51.960 --> 0:33:56.440 Festival and oz Fest. So that's how we started with 0:33:56.480 --> 0:34:00.719 PACE Touring. So what was your experience with Sharon loved it. 0:34:00.760 --> 0:34:04.000 I love Sharon. I love Sharon. I love Ozzie. I 0:34:04.000 --> 0:34:08.680 mean it was the most fun I've had. I mean, 0:34:09.080 --> 0:34:13.680 I just adore them, and working with her was so 0:34:13.800 --> 0:34:16.880 much fun. And working with Ozzie was so much fun. 0:34:17.640 --> 0:34:20.600 It was I never stopped laughing. 0:34:21.120 --> 0:34:25.560 Okay, Sharon's tough. They had The Osbourne's on MTV. She 0:34:25.719 --> 0:34:28.879 intentionally didn't sign the contracts such that when the show 0:34:28.960 --> 0:34:31.000 was renewed, she held them up for a lot of money. 0:34:31.480 --> 0:34:37.239 Needs to say, her father had a colorful career. What 0:34:37.320 --> 0:34:39.840 was it like being in business with her, being on 0:34:39.880 --> 0:34:42.160 the other side of the fence, And did you learn 0:34:42.200 --> 0:34:45.960 anything from her? In addition, what you. 0:34:46.000 --> 0:34:47.799 Learn is not to get on the other side of her, 0:34:48.040 --> 0:34:50.399 you know, to get on the talk side of her. 0:34:50.840 --> 0:34:56.160 That's the one thing, you know. But I never had 0:34:56.160 --> 0:34:59.640 a problem with Sharon never ever, you know. I mean 0:35:00.239 --> 0:35:04.680 we would just dear friends with each other. She was 0:35:04.760 --> 0:35:09.719 so lovely, just as nice as nice could be. But 0:35:09.760 --> 0:35:12.880 I've seen the other side of her when she you know, 0:35:13.000 --> 0:35:15.600 when she got pissed off at people, Like I said, 0:35:15.719 --> 0:35:18.000 you don't you don't want a blue box from her, 0:35:18.840 --> 0:35:20.440 You don't want a Tiffany box from her? 0:35:22.280 --> 0:35:23.520 How about a golfer? Are you? 0:35:25.719 --> 0:35:31.520 I stopped playing I was never that good. But I've 0:35:31.560 --> 0:35:33.440 had a couple of back surgeries and a couple of 0:35:33.480 --> 0:35:37.160 knee surgeries. Now I'm kind of afraid to play because 0:35:37.239 --> 0:35:41.920 I don't want another back surgery or knee surgery. But 0:35:42.080 --> 0:35:44.680 I mean, I was a hacker. I mean I was 0:35:44.719 --> 0:35:48.799 a fifteen eighteen handicapper and I think the best I 0:35:48.880 --> 0:35:54.000 ever got was maybe twelve. Actually, the last round of 0:35:54.000 --> 0:35:57.440 golf I played, real round of golf I played was 0:35:57.480 --> 0:36:00.560 with Robin Allen who works with Taylor, and Rob Lighte 0:36:00.560 --> 0:36:04.680 and John Meglin at Augusta for two days. So that 0:36:04.760 --> 0:36:05.560 was a long time ago. 0:36:06.440 --> 0:36:10.400 So to what degree have you benefited business wise playing golf? 0:36:12.719 --> 0:36:15.680 Well, it's really difficult because most of the time, even 0:36:15.680 --> 0:36:17.600 though I might have been playing with people, most of 0:36:17.600 --> 0:36:19.600 time I was in the woods, so I didn't really 0:36:19.640 --> 0:36:21.600 have a chance to talk to talk to a lot 0:36:21.640 --> 0:36:26.799 of people, and so I was always looking for my ball. No, 0:36:27.000 --> 0:36:29.040 it was fun. You know, golf is a good community, 0:36:29.200 --> 0:36:32.280 you know, I mean, you know, you spend four hours 0:36:32.320 --> 0:36:37.000 with some people, and you know when Rob light and 0:36:38.000 --> 0:36:39.440 Mitch Slater, not Mitch. 0:36:39.239 --> 0:36:40.960 Slater, Mitch Rose. 0:36:41.440 --> 0:36:45.200 Mitch Rose had their annual golf tournament at Pebble Beach. 0:36:45.480 --> 0:36:47.839 That was nothing but fun. I mean I look forward 0:36:47.880 --> 0:36:50.600 to it every year. So that was fun. And the 0:36:50.680 --> 0:36:54.360 John Barrick, you know the thing, his golf tournament was 0:36:54.360 --> 0:36:55.440 always nothing but fun. 0:36:56.280 --> 0:37:01.719 Okay, So you mentioned Howard Rose and Rob Light. What 0:37:01.840 --> 0:37:02.600 makes a good. 0:37:02.440 --> 0:37:10.720 Agent, a smart agent, one that's detailed like Coward Rose, 0:37:11.320 --> 0:37:14.360 like you know he is. You know how it was 0:37:14.400 --> 0:37:18.520 always so detailed. It wasn't about you know him. The 0:37:18.560 --> 0:37:21.359 same thing. Howard's model was almost like he you know, 0:37:21.440 --> 0:37:23.640 he had a dozen acts at the height of his 0:37:23.680 --> 0:37:29.040 career of fifteen acts and unlike you know, one of 0:37:29.080 --> 0:37:32.759 the big agencies where they I mean they kind of 0:37:32.800 --> 0:37:36.040 are involved, but they're not involved. I mean not when 0:37:36.080 --> 0:37:40.359 you have, you know, in your roster's three thousand acts, 0:37:40.400 --> 0:37:43.839 how can you be involved, you're not. But Howard, you know, 0:37:44.000 --> 0:37:46.360 he had Elton, he had Buffett, he had Chicago, he 0:37:46.440 --> 0:37:50.040 had you know, he had his niche bands and that 0:37:50.239 --> 0:37:52.960 was it. And it was always one at a time shot, 0:37:53.080 --> 0:37:55.439 I mean, one out of one act at a time, 0:37:55.760 --> 0:37:58.920 very similar to the way I'm doing business. Dennis Offer 0:37:58.960 --> 0:38:02.600 is the same way. He's so detailed. You know, he's 0:38:02.640 --> 0:38:06.040 involved in everything. If it's marketing, if it's ticketing, if 0:38:06.040 --> 0:38:09.799 it's you name it. And just like most promoters, the 0:38:09.840 --> 0:38:12.640 same thing. The promoters that have all these you know 0:38:13.000 --> 0:38:15.719 as I call them, turn the page promoters because they 0:38:15.719 --> 0:38:19.600 don't have no idea when a marketing person has you 0:38:19.640 --> 0:38:23.880 know that that's in ames Iowa has thirty shows to 0:38:23.960 --> 0:38:26.880 market at all. At the same time, they're doing a 0:38:26.920 --> 0:38:30.040 shitty job. They're just turning the page to get to 0:38:30.080 --> 0:38:34.800 the next one. And that is I've done that business. 0:38:34.840 --> 0:38:37.480 I've done that. That was my world for a long time. 0:38:37.560 --> 0:38:39.839 But that is not a good world. I know. If 0:38:39.880 --> 0:38:41.840 I was an act, I would not have an agent 0:38:42.239 --> 0:38:45.759 or a promoter that wasn't concentrating on me. 0:38:47.000 --> 0:38:52.239 Okay, so you work with George Straight. Who was the 0:38:52.320 --> 0:38:54.040 next act after George Straight? 0:38:55.239 --> 0:38:58.960 Well, the five I left with was George Straight. I 0:38:59.000 --> 0:39:03.560 had a I wound up having a non compete, a 0:39:03.560 --> 0:39:07.600 two year noncompete, but I was able to call about George, 0:39:08.160 --> 0:39:12.840 the Chicks, Tim McGraw, faith Hill, and Kenny Chesney. So 0:39:14.040 --> 0:39:16.560 that's who I had for the next two years. The 0:39:16.680 --> 0:39:21.040 chicks were on fire. They were selling out everywhere. I 0:39:21.120 --> 0:39:25.239 did the first Soda Soul tour with Timith, faith and 0:39:25.280 --> 0:39:29.360 that's when Kenny was blasting off. You know, he just 0:39:29.440 --> 0:39:32.600 became a headliner. So those are the five acts that 0:39:32.640 --> 0:39:35.160 I started with. And then when my non compete was 0:39:35.200 --> 0:39:39.759 over and I started calling agents again and they were 0:39:39.880 --> 0:39:45.759 telling me, well, you can match you know, clear Channels 0:39:46.640 --> 0:39:49.839 offer or match Bob Ruse offer. I going, you need 0:39:50.000 --> 0:39:53.360 match Bob Ruse offer. I trained him, I taught him, 0:39:53.719 --> 0:39:56.680 you know, and he worked for me as a fucking 0:39:56.719 --> 0:40:00.400 club buyer. Sorry I mean to say so now I 0:40:00.480 --> 0:40:03.120 got to match his offer. I played this band when 0:40:03.120 --> 0:40:06.319 they were opening opening in a club, and so that's 0:40:06.360 --> 0:40:12.240 when I realized. I said to myself, screw this business. 0:40:12.400 --> 0:40:14.040 I only want to work with acts that want to 0:40:14.040 --> 0:40:16.520 work with me. I'm going back to the personal and 0:40:16.600 --> 0:40:21.359 relationship business. That's how I changed my whole thing when 0:40:21.400 --> 0:40:23.840 I started Messina touring. 0:40:25.080 --> 0:40:29.000 So tell me how you built Kenny Chesney. 0:40:29.160 --> 0:40:31.680 Well, I believe in Kenny because I saw him on 0:40:31.719 --> 0:40:34.840 George Straight and I saw the merchandise numbers. I know 0:40:34.920 --> 0:40:37.279 that he was second or third from the bottom. We 0:40:37.320 --> 0:40:41.200 had like a seven X show and people were eighty 0:40:41.200 --> 0:40:43.239 five percent of the stadium was full, and he went 0:40:43.280 --> 0:40:46.319 on every night and he was out selling everybody else 0:40:46.320 --> 0:40:50.240 but George Straight and merchandise, and we just chipped away 0:40:50.280 --> 0:40:53.720 with Kenny. I had him on George Straight for two years, 0:40:54.080 --> 0:40:57.960 and then I had him on the Tim McGraw Amphitheater 0:40:57.960 --> 0:41:03.240 tour and then Wet headlining, and we played everywhere. I mean, 0:41:03.320 --> 0:41:06.080 if it was a four thousand seedar, five thousand seedar, 0:41:06.640 --> 0:41:09.720 ten thousand sedar, we just kept on building and building 0:41:09.760 --> 0:41:12.440 it and building it, and then we took the shot. 0:41:12.520 --> 0:41:15.120 We played him at neil And Stadium in Knoxville, and 0:41:15.200 --> 0:41:19.680 we did the like almost seventy thousand people and everybody, 0:41:19.680 --> 0:41:21.680 you know, because back then I couldn't even get anybody 0:41:21.760 --> 0:41:24.120 to open for Kenny. You know, what do you mean? 0:41:24.320 --> 0:41:26.640 You know he's a wanna be everybody. You know, just 0:41:26.800 --> 0:41:29.560 no one believed in Kenny Chesney. The only people believed 0:41:29.560 --> 0:41:37.719 in Kenny Chesney was Kenny Chesney, Clintonheim, Joe Galante and myself. 0:41:39.080 --> 0:41:42.000 There was very few people that had belief in him, 0:41:42.320 --> 0:41:46.280 but his fans loved him. And here we are now 0:41:47.160 --> 0:41:49.960 this summer will be twenty five years with Kenny, and 0:41:50.280 --> 0:41:53.480 he just gives it it all man. And you know, 0:41:53.600 --> 0:41:57.320 if you ever been to his show, he's a hard worker, 0:41:57.800 --> 0:42:01.400 just like Taylor. His work ethic is unbelievable. You know 0:42:01.680 --> 0:42:04.880 he's involved. If he doesn't talk to me, he's talking 0:42:04.920 --> 0:42:08.480 to Kate McMahon, Roan McMahon. He's talking. He's calling them 0:42:08.520 --> 0:42:11.360 direct about what about this idea, what about that idea? 0:42:11.760 --> 0:42:15.600 What about so and sofa support? You know he is involved. 0:42:17.280 --> 0:42:19.600 The other day, I mean, we got this ridiculous offer 0:42:19.640 --> 0:42:21.719 for somebody and he called me up. He says, what 0:42:21.760 --> 0:42:25.240 do you think. I go, well, you want the truth 0:42:25.360 --> 0:42:27.359 or you want to lie? And he goes, I want 0:42:27.360 --> 0:42:29.440 the truth. I go, I wouldn't do it. I go. 0:42:29.560 --> 0:42:32.399 We can always make money, Kenny. But this is if 0:42:32.440 --> 0:42:35.319 we do this show and it underperforms, which I think 0:42:35.360 --> 0:42:38.680 it will because of the city you going to, you're 0:42:38.719 --> 0:42:42.600 gonna be bitching at me the whole summer. And we've 0:42:42.600 --> 0:42:46.400 got an unbelievable summer coming up. We always end in Foxboro. 0:42:46.719 --> 0:42:49.759 We're doing three stadium three shows in Foxboro this year 0:42:49.800 --> 0:42:52.799 at Jollette Stadium and they're completely sold out. I go, 0:42:53.000 --> 0:42:55.839 and if we add another show, you're gonna hate it 0:42:56.640 --> 0:42:59.400 because it's outside of your normal what you normally do. 0:42:59.440 --> 0:43:02.400 You're routie and all you need to think about is 0:43:02.480 --> 0:43:05.960 all year is why did I book this show? And 0:43:06.000 --> 0:43:08.600 he goes, fuck it, I'm not doing it, and he 0:43:08.680 --> 0:43:09.839 didn't do it, you know. 0:43:10.760 --> 0:43:13.520 A little bit more specific, what was wrong with the show? 0:43:14.840 --> 0:43:17.239 It was a it was a B market for a 0:43:17.239 --> 0:43:21.000 lot of money, and I didn't think I thought I 0:43:21.040 --> 0:43:26.319 would wouldn't do well because the market was not that 0:43:26.480 --> 0:43:32.960 great of a market to begin with, and and I 0:43:33.000 --> 0:43:34.759 thought I thought the show would be good for thirty 0:43:34.760 --> 0:43:36.280 five thousand tickets. 0:43:37.320 --> 0:43:41.240 Okay, Kenny, even at this laid date, does not play 0:43:41.360 --> 0:43:45.600 only stadiums, So mix up the stadium with other places. 0:43:45.840 --> 0:43:47.000 What's the logic there? 0:43:48.360 --> 0:43:52.719 He Well, there's a lot of places that hey don't 0:43:52.760 --> 0:43:58.800 have stadiums be you know, like doing this off cycle, 0:43:59.280 --> 0:44:01.960 we always go back to the secondary markets and play 0:44:02.320 --> 0:44:05.399 you know this last year back where I come from, 0:44:05.440 --> 0:44:08.920 we played all secondary markets arenas, and then we just 0:44:09.040 --> 0:44:12.440 normally mix up amphitheaters and stadiums during the summertime when 0:44:12.480 --> 0:44:15.080 it's a stadium run where we'll play a stadium on 0:44:15.200 --> 0:44:18.680 Saturday and play an amphitheater on a Wednesday, because you know, 0:44:18.719 --> 0:44:23.680 there's no stadium in Raleigh, there's no stadium in Little 0:44:23.760 --> 0:44:28.839 Rock or or Phoenix that we should go play. I mean, 0:44:28.960 --> 0:44:33.319 the Amphitheater is the better play for Kenny, you know, 0:44:33.560 --> 0:44:38.680 And that's just it. And there's only somebody, you know, 0:44:39.120 --> 0:44:41.320 I don't think with Kenny, we can play a Wednesday 0:44:41.400 --> 0:44:44.360 night in a stadium where we need to be on 0:44:44.400 --> 0:44:46.880 a Friday Saturday night. And there's only so many Fridays 0:44:46.880 --> 0:44:50.440 and Saturdays each week, you know, So we you know, 0:44:50.560 --> 0:44:55.279 we do twenty two stadiums in about fifteen amphitheaters every year. 0:44:55.520 --> 0:44:58.080 I'm not every year, every other year, because he's in 0:44:58.239 --> 0:45:01.799 every other year cycle. When it comes to state, how. 0:45:01.719 --> 0:45:04.040 Do you decide on in every other year's cycle. 0:45:04.400 --> 0:45:06.919 Well, don't wear out you're welcome, you know. I mean, 0:45:07.560 --> 0:45:10.680 if you you know, if you if you you know, 0:45:10.880 --> 0:45:13.439 don't see him this year, tickets will go and sale 0:45:13.480 --> 0:45:15.399 for next year in about two months, you know, after 0:45:15.440 --> 0:45:18.759 the show. So that's it. So we're you know, we're 0:45:18.760 --> 0:45:21.520 trying to keep the markets fresh for him, so we 0:45:21.560 --> 0:45:23.920 don't just burn out the markets. I mean, like a 0:45:23.960 --> 0:45:27.280 lot that's that's the unfortunately, well a lot of country acts, 0:45:27.400 --> 0:45:29.440 you know, it's just you look at that lineup, it's 0:45:29.440 --> 0:45:32.680 this it's the same rethread shows every year. Every year, 0:45:32.719 --> 0:45:35.640 every year, and sooner or later, these acts just burn out. 0:45:35.760 --> 0:45:40.399 You know, it's just like they just become they can 0:45:40.440 --> 0:45:41.760 become B level acts. 0:45:49.080 --> 0:45:53.440 Okay, so you play the stadium in Knoxville. When you 0:45:53.480 --> 0:45:59.560 start playing more stadiums, Taylor's out totally alone. Okay, how 0:45:59.600 --> 0:46:02.920 did you build those shows to sell them? And now 0:46:02.960 --> 0:46:05.960 when Kenny doesn't even need the opening acts, how do 0:46:06.000 --> 0:46:06.840 you build this show? 0:46:08.800 --> 0:46:13.200 We try to find someone that compliments Kenny and his audience. 0:46:14.239 --> 0:46:18.640 You know, it came from my Texas Jam days of 0:46:18.680 --> 0:46:21.840 giving people value for their money, seeing the when George 0:46:21.840 --> 0:46:25.800 Strait Country Music Festival, or George and Chris Stapleton giving 0:46:25.840 --> 0:46:29.880 them value for their money. Where this year it's it's Kenny, 0:46:30.040 --> 0:46:34.320 Zach Brown, Megan Maroney and Uncle Cracker. We're giving people 0:46:34.440 --> 0:46:38.640 value for their money, you know, two headliners. And so 0:46:38.680 --> 0:46:43.680 that's Kenny's shows more or bigger than Kenny himself because 0:46:43.960 --> 0:46:48.000 he turned them into events and it's sort of an 0:46:48.080 --> 0:46:52.279 annual thing that people are It's kind of like Coachella. 0:46:53.000 --> 0:46:56.040 People are going to Coachella because they're going to Coachella 0:46:56.160 --> 0:46:59.680 because it's fun. You know, it's an event. Kenny shows 0:46:59.760 --> 0:47:03.000 are events, even when they play the amphitheaters. You know, 0:47:03.080 --> 0:47:06.360 it's kind of like Buffett had it. You know, people 0:47:06.400 --> 0:47:10.280 look forward that was their one day vacation every year. 0:47:10.719 --> 0:47:14.680 You know, they're in town vacation. And that's how Kenny is. 0:47:14.840 --> 0:47:18.480 You know, Like we go to New York. I mean 0:47:18.520 --> 0:47:22.440 he sold at MetLife Stadium. He's the number one selling 0:47:22.600 --> 0:47:26.359 artist in the history of Metlight Stadium. I think he's 0:47:26.440 --> 0:47:30.480 number three and over all the Old Giants Stadium and 0:47:30.600 --> 0:47:34.960 MetLife behind Springsteen and the Dead. I believe that's in 0:47:35.080 --> 0:47:39.960 New York City on Jersey. That's amazing. Stady in Philly, Pittsburgh, 0:47:40.000 --> 0:47:43.279 all these markets that he's built, Tampa. I mean, he's 0:47:43.400 --> 0:47:48.000 just built built this brand. You know, No Shoes Nation 0:47:48.239 --> 0:47:49.080 is real. 0:47:50.000 --> 0:47:53.400 So other than Taylor, who can sell as many tickets as. 0:47:53.280 --> 0:48:03.160 Kenny, George at Sharon, who else do I have up there? 0:48:04.800 --> 0:48:09.000 Eric Church is going to be there, The Lumineers is 0:48:09.040 --> 0:48:14.160 going to be there. I don't know. I mean they 0:48:14.160 --> 0:48:17.000 all have their own you know, like no one's going 0:48:17.080 --> 0:48:20.360 to be his biggest tailor. Ever, no one's going to 0:48:20.400 --> 0:48:24.960 be the biggest tailt she believe it or not, she 0:48:25.000 --> 0:48:27.440 hasn't even got to where she's going I always tell it. 0:48:27.480 --> 0:48:29.480 I tell her that every year. She hasn't even got 0:48:29.520 --> 0:48:34.880 to where she's gone yet. She's amazing. Idre George, you know, 0:48:35.040 --> 0:48:39.719 he's in this thirty fifth year of touring and still 0:48:39.719 --> 0:48:43.800 on top of the world. He doesn't tour seven shows 0:48:43.800 --> 0:48:46.279 a year, eight shows a year, so he doesn't tour. 0:48:47.640 --> 0:48:51.279 People said he retired, and he goes. I never, He 0:48:51.360 --> 0:48:54.200 never said he retired. He retired from doing an organized tour, 0:48:54.640 --> 0:48:58.080 but he goes, I'm always going to do shows, special shows, 0:48:58.320 --> 0:49:00.600 and you know we do seven, eight, nine shows a year. 0:49:01.400 --> 0:49:03.960 How did the Stapleton George straight thing come together? 0:49:04.719 --> 0:49:08.360 Well, George has respect for Chris. Chris has a respect 0:49:08.400 --> 0:49:16.279 for George, and you know it was magical. I mean, 0:49:18.120 --> 0:49:23.080 Chris opening for George because he loves it. They do 0:49:23.200 --> 0:49:27.160 great business together and probably that's the only act Chris 0:49:27.200 --> 0:49:30.600 would ever open for. But it's out of respect and 0:49:30.640 --> 0:49:35.960 they're magical together. But you're not the promoter for Chris. Correct, No, 0:49:36.000 --> 0:49:37.680 I'm not yet. 0:49:38.040 --> 0:49:39.880 Yeah, as they say, a matter of time, Okay, you 0:49:39.960 --> 0:49:41.280 walk with these five acts. 0:49:41.719 --> 0:49:42.160 Now the no. 0:49:42.239 --> 0:49:43.920 Compete is over. Who's the next act? 0:49:44.440 --> 0:49:47.160 Well, the act that I took on tour was Nickelback 0:49:47.880 --> 0:49:54.080 and I did like one one tour, but it was 0:49:54.120 --> 0:49:57.040 like five cycles of that one tour, and we sold 0:49:57.040 --> 0:50:02.320 that everywhere. I mean we sold that everywhere, every every 0:50:02.560 --> 0:50:07.399 arena across the country. And then you know, and then 0:50:07.440 --> 0:50:11.000 they got the goofball offer from I think it was 0:50:11.120 --> 0:50:14.160 it might have been still Clear Channel back then, and 0:50:14.440 --> 0:50:17.000 or it might have been Live Nation, not sure. And 0:50:17.480 --> 0:50:21.160 I remember when I was with their manager and I 0:50:21.200 --> 0:50:27.120 was with my Wiki and Randy Phillips, and they told 0:50:26.880 --> 0:50:30.239 the number that they were getting, which was more than 0:50:30.280 --> 0:50:34.520 the band was actually grossing. And like Wiki and Randy goes, oh, 0:50:34.520 --> 0:50:36.600 we have to have it. We'll match the off. I go, no, 0:50:36.719 --> 0:50:39.960 we're not. I go, not a shot there. I go, 0:50:40.160 --> 0:50:42.560 we didn't evengross that And you want to match the offer? 0:50:42.600 --> 0:50:49.120 What are you insane? And so anyway, that was another 0:50:49.160 --> 0:50:53.520 case where actually there's a resurgence Nickelback now, but they 0:50:53.640 --> 0:50:56.200 just ran that act in the ground, you know, because 0:50:56.520 --> 0:50:58.760 same thing, they had to play X amount of shows, 0:50:59.280 --> 0:51:02.000 you know, they had to work off that debt, and 0:51:02.000 --> 0:51:03.320 that's not how to build a career. 0:51:04.880 --> 0:51:07.160 How'd you end up going to business with ag. 0:51:08.560 --> 0:51:16.319 Well, I knew I needed I had a good run 0:51:16.400 --> 0:51:19.200 with Pace. I mean I started Pace Concerts with Alan, 0:51:19.800 --> 0:51:23.239 and like I told you earlier, Meglin worked for me 0:51:23.280 --> 0:51:27.759 at Pace Touring. Then he left because he and I 0:51:27.840 --> 0:51:32.120 got the first Spice Girls tour and all the agents 0:51:32.239 --> 0:51:39.200 were uproar, and I remember Sillimon telling John and I 0:51:39.400 --> 0:51:42.959 y'all got y'all can't do the Spice Girls. And we went, yes, 0:51:43.000 --> 0:51:49.319 we can, and and and John basically says, I quit. 0:51:50.160 --> 0:51:54.160 And then then Syllomon just told Meglin. He goes, oh, 0:51:54.200 --> 0:51:57.400 we'll just get Louie to do it. I go, nope, 0:51:58.000 --> 0:52:01.240 I'm not doing it, you know. And so John left 0:52:01.280 --> 0:52:05.880 and started Concerts West with Paul Gongaware. And I literally 0:52:05.960 --> 0:52:11.480 happened to be walking in La and Beverly Hills and 0:52:11.520 --> 0:52:13.560 I'm walking across the street and I see John and 0:52:13.600 --> 0:52:15.680 Paul and I've known them forever, I mean, as long 0:52:15.719 --> 0:52:18.560 as I've been in the business. From the original Concerts West, 0:52:18.760 --> 0:52:20.600 they go, you should come to work with us, I go, 0:52:20.719 --> 0:52:23.920 y'all can't afford me. So I knew Tim my wiki 0:52:24.040 --> 0:52:27.600 through early on days. His brother used to work at 0:52:27.640 --> 0:52:30.600 the back of the Summit with the Arrows, and so 0:52:30.920 --> 0:52:34.719 I knew Tim and I met with him when I 0:52:34.840 --> 0:52:38.520 left Pace when Clear Channel excuse me, or it was 0:52:38.560 --> 0:52:43.480 Clear Channel then, and then of course they were threatened 0:52:43.480 --> 0:52:46.400 to be sued for tortuous interference. And then my wiki 0:52:46.480 --> 0:52:48.880 said just come back when you deal's done, you know, 0:52:49.120 --> 0:52:51.759 And I don't know. I felt like I needed to 0:52:51.800 --> 0:52:56.160 have an infrastructure and the finances to do what I 0:52:56.200 --> 0:52:59.640 wanted to do where I knew I could run a 0:52:59.719 --> 0:53:03.360 small company but not play on the on the scale 0:53:03.360 --> 0:53:07.080 that I wanted to play. So, you know, so I 0:53:07.160 --> 0:53:09.880 went with Tim. It was, you know, probably owned company, 0:53:10.480 --> 0:53:14.080 and I loved him. I mean, he's a he's a 0:53:14.160 --> 0:53:17.879 rain maker, you know. And and Randy Phillips, who I've 0:53:17.920 --> 0:53:20.680 known forever. It was just a great match for me. 0:53:20.800 --> 0:53:22.399 So I went into business with them. 0:53:23.800 --> 0:53:27.920 Okay, subsequent to nickelback then what comes? 0:53:30.239 --> 0:53:34.720 Wow? Man, now you're making uh making my head spin. 0:53:34.920 --> 0:53:42.799 Now, let me ask a questions differently the acts you 0:53:42.960 --> 0:53:47.000 have now, Yeah, because now you're in the career business. 0:53:47.560 --> 0:53:50.040 How many other acts did you promote that you no 0:53:50.120 --> 0:53:52.399 longer promote in your post Clear Channel world? 0:53:54.120 --> 0:53:58.319 Oh shit, all but I promoted almost every act all 0:53:58.360 --> 0:54:01.719 but you know, all but the twelve acts I have, 0:54:01.880 --> 0:54:05.759 I pretty much promoted everybody you know that started with 0:54:06.640 --> 0:54:10.319 anybody that was on the road before the year two 0:54:10.400 --> 0:54:13.239 thousand I promoted. I mean, you know. 0:54:13.640 --> 0:54:16.800 I'm talking after that. Now you're done with Clear Channel. 0:54:16.840 --> 0:54:19.960 You're in the Louis Messina business. You're in the career business. 0:54:20.239 --> 0:54:23.200 You did work with nickelback, they took the big money 0:54:23.200 --> 0:54:27.040 from Live Nation. Did you work with anybody else as 0:54:27.080 --> 0:54:29.239 a tour promoter who you no longer work with? 0:54:29.560 --> 0:54:33.080 Yes, and no longer work with the Chicks, only the 0:54:33.120 --> 0:54:36.200 same thing. They were paid a lot of money and 0:54:36.400 --> 0:54:41.680 God bless them, they're my dear friends. With McGraw, the 0:54:41.680 --> 0:54:43.719 only time I worked with him was doing So to 0:54:43.800 --> 0:54:53.160 Soul because he plays the amphitheaters. And that's the only two, 0:54:53.280 --> 0:54:56.600 the only three acts that I could think of that 0:54:57.120 --> 0:54:59.160 I had and I don't have anymore. 0:55:00.200 --> 0:55:04.280 Okay, who's the first act subsequent to the Big Five 0:55:05.160 --> 0:55:07.120 that you signed that you still work with? 0:55:11.280 --> 0:55:11.680 Taylor? 0:55:12.440 --> 0:55:16.600 Okay? So Taylor is opening for George straight right, right? 0:55:16.840 --> 0:55:17.879 How do you decide that? 0:55:19.280 --> 0:55:23.240 Well, George always likes to have a female on his show. 0:55:23.440 --> 0:55:28.839 Ronnie Millsap was the middle act, and Taylor had a 0:55:28.920 --> 0:55:34.359 song Tim McGraw, and we just put her on and 0:55:35.480 --> 0:55:37.400 simple as that. I mean, the luckiest day of my 0:55:37.480 --> 0:55:40.239 life when you know, I heard a song on the 0:55:40.360 --> 0:55:46.879 radio and I go, what about Taylor Swift? And George went, yeah, 0:55:46.920 --> 0:55:51.320 let's do it. So we put Taylor on our eighteen 0:55:51.440 --> 0:55:56.960 or twenty shows run and no kid. By the third night, 0:55:57.080 --> 0:55:59.160 I knew this girl was going to be a superstar. 0:55:59.560 --> 0:56:02.200 She was a first one. Her work ethic was unbelievable. 0:56:02.600 --> 0:56:05.000 By the third song every night, she had a George 0:56:05.000 --> 0:56:07.759 Straight audience in the palm of our hands. Here is, 0:56:07.880 --> 0:56:10.799 like I've said the story. Here's a seventeen year old 0:56:10.840 --> 0:56:14.880 girl singing about high school breakups and boyfriends and to 0:56:14.920 --> 0:56:20.440 a George Straight audience. And she had them, like I said, 0:56:21.239 --> 0:56:24.640 in her palm of our hands the whole time. And 0:56:24.680 --> 0:56:27.120 she was the first one in the production office every 0:56:27.160 --> 0:56:31.560 morning after she went to radio, writing notes to people 0:56:31.600 --> 0:56:34.120 around the country. She was the last one to leave 0:56:34.160 --> 0:56:38.080 the building every night signing autographs. So she was from 0:56:38.440 --> 0:56:44.640 seventeen years old on the like I said, she just magical. 0:56:44.719 --> 0:56:47.759 That's that's how I met got involved with Tail. I 0:56:47.800 --> 0:56:48.640 just saw the magic. 0:56:49.000 --> 0:56:53.000 Okay, you were convinced. How did you convince Taylor and 0:56:53.080 --> 0:56:55.240 Scott Swift. 0:56:55.120 --> 0:56:57.239 Well, the good thing they got to see me and 0:56:57.320 --> 0:57:03.560 my company work with George Straight and so on Mike Chaos, 0:57:03.600 --> 0:57:06.239 which they are used with most people used so they 0:57:06.239 --> 0:57:09.399 see a nice calm backstage, you know, me walking around 0:57:09.400 --> 0:57:11.400 with a drink in my hand, and you know, everybody 0:57:11.440 --> 0:57:14.960 having a good time, and everybody's relaxed. And and I 0:57:14.960 --> 0:57:18.880 remember Scott Swift would would ask me questions every night, 0:57:18.920 --> 0:57:20.800 what about this? What about that? How do you do this? 0:57:20.960 --> 0:57:22.919 How do you do that? You know? And I got 0:57:22.920 --> 0:57:29.520 to no tailor, and and Andrea, you know, I just 0:57:30.480 --> 0:57:34.480 we just became friends, that's all. And then I was 0:57:34.560 --> 0:57:39.040 such a big believer in her. And and then it's 0:57:39.080 --> 0:57:41.120 so funny. I'm shocked that I have it because then 0:57:41.160 --> 0:57:45.160 I convinced Kenny to put a put her on his 0:57:45.280 --> 0:57:52.440 tour and and she was so excited, she said, you 0:57:52.440 --> 0:57:57.320 know the day I told her, we're in in Fresno 0:57:57.600 --> 0:58:02.320 in Texas, uh at the soccer stadium she had opened 0:58:02.360 --> 0:58:08.640 for Kenny that weekend. And I negotiated the deal with 0:58:09.480 --> 0:58:14.240 back then Scott Borshadow was the manager with Scott and 0:58:14.240 --> 0:58:17.680 to be on the tour, and Taylor came up the greatest, 0:58:17.720 --> 0:58:20.720 happiest day of my life. And then a couple of 0:58:20.760 --> 0:58:24.200 months before the on sale, we just saw in this 0:58:24.320 --> 0:58:29.480 massive deal with Corona Beer. Massive, I mean Buffett had 0:58:29.560 --> 0:58:35.640 just left. And then and so they called me and 0:58:35.680 --> 0:58:38.840 said who is opening for Kenny? And I said, proudly, 0:58:38.880 --> 0:58:41.160 I say Taylor Swift and they go, hold is she? 0:58:41.200 --> 0:58:45.080 I go, well, she's gonna be eighteen in December. Go well, 0:58:45.120 --> 0:58:49.520 we can't have that. And I tried everything to keep 0:58:49.520 --> 0:58:54.760 her on that tour, but didn't work. Her eighteenth birthday, 0:58:55.000 --> 0:59:00.160 I was in Nashville at her birthday party, and she 0:59:00.720 --> 0:59:03.439 locked eyes with me. See she walked in the door, 0:59:03.520 --> 0:59:07.040 and she made her way, you know, besides saying hello 0:59:07.120 --> 0:59:11.360 and hugging everybody directly towards me, put some arms around me. 0:59:11.400 --> 0:59:13.320 And he goes, Louis, no one's ever broken my heart, 0:59:13.360 --> 0:59:15.360 but you broke my heart. I go, well, this is 0:59:15.360 --> 0:59:18.040 the end of my career. A tail square, you know. 0:59:18.720 --> 0:59:22.560 But we had a nice little gift for her a 0:59:22.720 --> 0:59:26.280 matter of fact, and it was her lead story in 0:59:26.440 --> 0:59:31.040 the Time magazine how she said that Kenny gave her 0:59:31.040 --> 0:59:35.880 this big check. You know that we all chipped in. 0:59:35.960 --> 0:59:38.800 Kenny and I chipped in together. And she goes, you know, 0:59:39.000 --> 0:59:42.240 and she's referred to me as Kenny Chesney's promoter, not 0:59:42.760 --> 0:59:46.640 who was also my promoter. But I wasn't back then, 0:59:46.720 --> 0:59:49.640 and then she was just blown away, that's all, you know. 0:59:49.880 --> 0:59:54.920 And then when it was time for her to ready 0:59:54.920 --> 1:00:00.439 to go on tour, you know, they met with their 1:00:00.480 --> 1:00:03.000 agent and then the next day they called me, can you 1:00:03.000 --> 1:00:08.120 come to Nashville? And so I met with Scott Andrea 1:00:09.560 --> 1:00:14.080 brushetta business manager, and we had a great meeting. Andrew says, 1:00:14.800 --> 1:00:17.600 come with me, hop in a car, go out to 1:00:18.080 --> 1:00:22.920 their house and Taylor is at home in a pajamas 1:00:23.600 --> 1:00:29.040 and played me to Fearless record and that was it, man, 1:00:29.720 --> 1:00:34.000 you know, end of story. I mean, it was just magical. 1:00:34.040 --> 1:00:37.600 It's always been magical. And I'm lucky guy. 1:00:38.080 --> 1:00:42.440 So Ed Sheard ends up opening for Taylor, you end 1:00:42.520 --> 1:00:44.880 up becoming his promoter. How did he get on the 1:00:44.920 --> 1:00:46.840 bill and how did you become the promoter? 1:00:47.440 --> 1:00:51.320 Well, Taylor picked him out, I'll be honest. I didn't 1:00:51.360 --> 1:00:57.080 know who had Sharon was okay? So so I same thing. 1:00:57.280 --> 1:01:00.320 I saw him the first night because I'm always watching 1:01:00.840 --> 1:01:05.440 I'm always out watching the audience in the autist and 1:01:05.520 --> 1:01:10.160 so I'm watching that sharing and places going crazy. I mean, 1:01:10.240 --> 1:01:12.520 he was not big in the United States at all. 1:01:12.960 --> 1:01:16.440 I mean, he had the A team and that was 1:01:16.480 --> 1:01:20.400 sort of a hit over here, and and I just 1:01:20.440 --> 1:01:22.880 saw the audience going crazy for him, and he and 1:01:22.920 --> 1:01:25.720 I just became friends. I mean, he would ride my 1:01:25.760 --> 1:01:28.960 bus every night, you know, because he had nothing to do. 1:01:29.040 --> 1:01:32.760 He was my drinking buddy back then. And he did 1:01:32.840 --> 1:01:36.520 forty five minutes and you know, Ed Edward play five hours. 1:01:37.120 --> 1:01:39.560 He would play another two hours on my bus every 1:01:39.640 --> 1:01:43.240 night or three hours. And we just, you know, I 1:01:43.360 --> 1:01:49.760 just we were in we were in in Jersey, I 1:01:49.760 --> 1:01:53.120 think at Prudential and it was rainy and cold outside 1:01:53.320 --> 1:01:56.800 and ed was literally sitting on the sidewalk and I'm 1:01:56.840 --> 1:01:59.800 on my bus. What Sarah went to who works with me, 1:02:00.440 --> 1:02:05.840 and Haley mcallis there. She sees Ed's just sitting on 1:02:06.120 --> 1:02:10.400 on the sidewalk and she goes, what are you doing? 1:02:10.480 --> 1:02:12.760 He goes, I missed my ride. So he's just sitting 1:02:12.800 --> 1:02:15.160 there by himself in the cold, in the rain, smoking 1:02:15.160 --> 1:02:17.360 a cigarette. Come on the bus, have a drink. And 1:02:17.400 --> 1:02:19.720 Susie walks on the bus. I looked at him and go, 1:02:20.000 --> 1:02:21.640 you don't know this ship. But I'm going to be 1:02:21.680 --> 1:02:26.760 your promoter. And then and Sarah goes, I'm gonna I'm 1:02:26.760 --> 1:02:29.840 going to market to your whole tour. And then I goes, seriously, 1:02:29.880 --> 1:02:32.680 you want to take me on? I went, hell yeah, 1:02:32.760 --> 1:02:35.280 And I'll never forget. The next day, Stewart Camp goes, 1:02:35.400 --> 1:02:38.480 I understand that you were talking to my autist. I go, no, 1:02:38.720 --> 1:02:41.480 that wasn't me, that was Jack Daniels talking to him. 1:02:41.600 --> 1:02:46.600 You know, I would never you know, And so so 1:02:46.680 --> 1:02:52.280 anyway we struck up a conversation and I'll never forget. 1:02:52.400 --> 1:02:56.000 Ed and I are talking and Taylor walks up to 1:02:56.440 --> 1:02:58.680 the two of us and he goes, what do y'all do? 1:02:58.720 --> 1:03:02.880 And I go, I just you know, bssen And Taylor 1:03:02.880 --> 1:03:04.600 looks at it and he goes, is Louie trying to 1:03:04.640 --> 1:03:10.360 hustle you? And Ed goes, yeah, he is. Actually she goes, well, 1:03:10.400 --> 1:03:13.040 you should pay attention to him because I've never made 1:03:13.040 --> 1:03:14.920 so much money in my life, you know, since I've 1:03:14.920 --> 1:03:18.320 worked with him, and he's really the best, so you 1:03:18.360 --> 1:03:21.080 should you should pay attention to what he has to say. 1:03:21.120 --> 1:03:23.640 And you know that was it, you know, I mean, 1:03:24.600 --> 1:03:27.480 we're we're still best of friends to this day. I 1:03:27.480 --> 1:03:31.120 mean Ed and I've been together, I know, it's like 1:03:31.280 --> 1:03:36.520 ten twelve years, and he's just he's adorable man. You know, 1:03:36.640 --> 1:03:39.320 he's like my son, He's like my best friend. And 1:03:40.120 --> 1:03:42.280 I just love him to death. I love his manager, 1:03:42.840 --> 1:03:46.040 you know, I love his parents. It's just one of 1:03:46.120 --> 1:03:51.520 those things. 1:03:53.600 --> 1:03:58.240 Okay. Earlier in her career, did Live Nation make one 1:03:58.280 --> 1:04:00.760 of those stupid offers to Taylor. 1:04:00.760 --> 1:04:04.560 Were to d or any early late in the middle, Yeah, 1:04:04.600 --> 1:04:08.000 they did. But Tail always bet on herself. 1:04:08.480 --> 1:04:10.760 Okay, betting on herself meaning. 1:04:12.120 --> 1:04:18.520 She's going to control her career and not that's it. 1:04:19.080 --> 1:04:21.760 Okay, you end up making a deal with Eric Church. 1:04:22.480 --> 1:04:26.320 Eric Church is Q Prime Nashville, but it's part of 1:04:26.400 --> 1:04:29.840 Q Prime in New York with Cliff and Peter, and 1:04:29.880 --> 1:04:37.840 they really don't like these deals. How did that come about? 1:04:38.280 --> 1:04:44.240 Eric opened for Kenny in the stadium and Kenny told me, Louis, 1:04:44.920 --> 1:04:47.680 you need to get involved with him. This guy's going 1:04:47.720 --> 1:04:52.120 to be a major star. And the same thing. You know, 1:04:52.960 --> 1:04:58.720 I got to know Eric and Catherine, his wife, and 1:04:58.800 --> 1:05:03.040 watching him perform, you know, every weekend, and we just 1:05:03.080 --> 1:05:08.320 became friends. And and then I met with him and 1:05:08.400 --> 1:05:13.120 Pete's his manager, and one thing led to the other. 1:05:13.400 --> 1:05:16.440 That's it, you know, And I said, I want to 1:05:16.440 --> 1:05:18.360 be a promoter. He had a promoter at a time, 1:05:18.480 --> 1:05:23.360 but it wasn't Live Nation, but Live Nation went after 1:05:23.400 --> 1:05:27.560 him big time. But that's how it went, you know. 1:05:27.600 --> 1:05:30.840 It's just like he saw the work I did. Eric. 1:05:31.120 --> 1:05:33.160 I remember one night he told me, he goes, I 1:05:33.240 --> 1:05:36.040 never thought I'd want to play stadiums Louis, But what's 1:05:36.040 --> 1:05:38.520 bigger than the stadiums? And I go, We'll figure it out, 1:05:38.920 --> 1:05:42.880 you know. But you know, I've been with Eric for 1:05:43.320 --> 1:05:49.280 ten plus years, you know, and trust me, he I 1:05:49.360 --> 1:05:53.400 almost lost him, you know, because you know, one company 1:05:54.080 --> 1:05:57.680 offered this ridiculous amount of money. But after I explained, 1:05:57.880 --> 1:06:01.640 after I explained to him that he's getting paid with 1:06:01.680 --> 1:06:05.880 his own money with a really high interest rate. And 1:06:06.000 --> 1:06:10.000 Eric's a smart guy. So soon as he saw the 1:06:10.040 --> 1:06:13.480 math of things, and he knew the passion I had 1:06:13.520 --> 1:06:18.919 for him, I mean, and he knew where he went 1:06:19.720 --> 1:06:24.000 with me, and so he stayed with me. I thought, 1:06:24.160 --> 1:06:26.600 you know, for a minute, I thought it was it 1:06:26.640 --> 1:06:30.880 was a jump ball, I mean, but it was throughout 1:06:30.960 --> 1:06:35.840 friendship and him knowing how devoted I was to his 1:06:35.920 --> 1:06:38.000 career and to him as a person. 1:06:38.920 --> 1:06:42.040 Now if you listen to Rappino, he has other revenue 1:06:42.040 --> 1:06:47.560 stream sponsorship, etc. And certainly they're paying more money in 1:06:47.640 --> 1:06:51.480 certain cases. Aren't there cases where they can just pay 1:06:51.520 --> 1:06:52.680 more money than you can? 1:06:53.640 --> 1:06:57.840 Well, they do, but they don't. I mean they do 1:06:57.920 --> 1:07:01.720 pay more money. They pay once again this fantasy money, 1:07:02.080 --> 1:07:05.040 you know, non not just down but other companies too, 1:07:05.400 --> 1:07:10.919 non recoupable bonuses, full non recoupable advance bull. All they're 1:07:10.960 --> 1:07:13.800 doing is, you know, the autists are not sharing in 1:07:13.840 --> 1:07:17.080 the rebates. They're not as much as the rebates they'll 1:07:17.160 --> 1:07:19.800 share be shared in the taste. All of a sudden, 1:07:19.800 --> 1:07:23.320 your ticket's on TM plus, you know, like happy inventory 1:07:23.400 --> 1:07:25.760 on TM Plus. And you're right, they have so many 1:07:25.800 --> 1:07:28.960 revenue streams. The amphitheaters. You know, you look at every 1:07:29.000 --> 1:07:33.640 person that goes in there, besides the cost of the ticket, 1:07:34.080 --> 1:07:39.000 everybody that's in there, you can their netting must probably 1:07:39.000 --> 1:07:43.280 be sixty to eighty dollars ahead on people that walk 1:07:43.320 --> 1:07:47.360 into amphitheater. So you have fifteen thousand people times sixty 1:07:47.440 --> 1:07:50.280 or eighty dollars ahead. That's so much money they're making 1:07:50.400 --> 1:07:53.959 on the amphitheater. So yeah, they have all this monopoly money, 1:07:54.800 --> 1:08:00.000 and so they're pretending they're given to you in a dance, 1:08:00.400 --> 1:08:04.000 but they really are. They're just giving you your own money. 1:08:05.200 --> 1:08:08.600 And autists don't understand that. I lost two autists of 1:08:09.120 --> 1:08:14.400 one stadium artists and because I had the deal, handshake deal, 1:08:14.680 --> 1:08:15.960 but all of a sudden they came in and go, 1:08:16.960 --> 1:08:20.719 here's this check. And the artist called, He goes, Lookias Harts. 1:08:21.200 --> 1:08:25.120 Decision I had to make in my life. But I can't. 1:08:25.320 --> 1:08:27.720 You know, I couldn't say no. I go, have you 1:08:27.760 --> 1:08:30.519 already committed? He goes, yeah, I had to because they 1:08:30.560 --> 1:08:33.800 made me commit. I go, well, best of luck to you, 1:08:33.800 --> 1:08:37.240 you know. And you know, I mean, when someone's given 1:08:38.040 --> 1:08:43.800 this massive check or not at one time, but they're saying, here, 1:08:43.840 --> 1:08:47.000 we'll guarantee you this, it's hard to say no unless 1:08:47.040 --> 1:08:49.879 the artist is smart enough to peel back the layers. 1:08:51.800 --> 1:08:54.120 And I just just now this year, not too many 1:08:54.160 --> 1:08:59.719 months ago, I had this artist done and we shook 1:08:59.760 --> 1:09:04.719 hands everything, and all of a sudden, five million dollars 1:09:04.760 --> 1:09:08.280 non recoupable signing bonus, you know, versus a ninety five 1:09:08.320 --> 1:09:12.200 to five, And you know, and I went, what the 1:09:12.280 --> 1:09:16.840 hell are y'all doing? I mean, why you know, like, 1:09:19.160 --> 1:09:22.559 you can't make that much money, and they're gonna see 1:09:22.600 --> 1:09:24.960 where half their tickets are going to be on TM 1:09:25.040 --> 1:09:29.439 plus half they're too you know, it's it's just not 1:09:29.840 --> 1:09:33.120 it's just not Live Nation. And you know, my partner's 1:09:33.120 --> 1:09:37.200 ag they play the same game. But you know, autists 1:09:37.320 --> 1:09:41.240 just don't understand where there's no such thing as free money. 1:09:41.760 --> 1:09:45.519 There's no such thing as free money. And that's what 1:09:46.040 --> 1:09:49.000 autists have to understand. But it's hard when they go here, 1:09:49.120 --> 1:09:51.840 here's this money, but you don't have to pay it back. Well, 1:09:51.880 --> 1:09:54.519 they don't know I could steal so much money from 1:09:54.520 --> 1:09:57.840 every artist every night. They wouldn't have a clue, you know, 1:09:58.000 --> 1:09:58.599 but I don't. 1:10:00.080 --> 1:10:02.920 And let's assume you did. Where would you steal it? 1:10:03.920 --> 1:10:08.160 Oh, everywhere building deals rebates. I mean that's where I would, 1:10:08.360 --> 1:10:09.880 you know, that's where I would get it. Instead of 1:10:09.960 --> 1:10:14.360 get X amount in rebates, I would give the audits 1:10:14.400 --> 1:10:20.240 a taste and keep the rest. And instead of you know, 1:10:20.800 --> 1:10:24.479 giving them discounted rent, I would charge them rec rade 1:10:24.479 --> 1:10:28.559 on rent and just keep the rest. But that's not 1:10:28.600 --> 1:10:33.040 how I work, but that that is how other companies work. 1:10:33.960 --> 1:10:34.759 I know it. 1:10:36.479 --> 1:10:38.600 So the acts ever come to you and you say no, 1:10:38.760 --> 1:10:39.680 I don't want to work with you. 1:10:40.560 --> 1:10:42.800 There's been a few I just didn't want, you know, 1:10:43.120 --> 1:10:46.439 I didn't have I have to be passionate about the act. 1:10:46.600 --> 1:10:48.720 I have to. I have to be passionate about it, 1:10:48.920 --> 1:10:52.800 and they have to be passionate about me too. They 1:10:52.840 --> 1:10:55.600 have to want to work with me, and I have 1:10:55.680 --> 1:10:58.400 to want to work with them, and they have to 1:10:58.479 --> 1:11:02.280 invite me into their world, because if they don't, I 1:11:03.120 --> 1:11:06.880 can't do them. I can't think what's inside their heads. 1:11:07.760 --> 1:11:09.960 I just can't think what's inside They have to tell 1:11:10.000 --> 1:11:12.000 me what's inside their heads. If they let me into 1:11:12.080 --> 1:11:14.720 their world, I'm just going to try to make it 1:11:14.760 --> 1:11:20.000 bigger for them. That's what I tried to do. But yes, 1:11:20.360 --> 1:11:22.439 so there's been acts. They're going, what do you want 1:11:22.439 --> 1:11:24.800 to do with me? I go, I don't know what. 1:11:25.040 --> 1:11:28.200 Let's talk about it. You know, I don't know what 1:11:29.080 --> 1:11:32.240 let's talk about You know, what is your plans? I mean, 1:11:32.280 --> 1:11:34.400 you've known what you want to do since the first 1:11:34.400 --> 1:11:37.479 time you picked up a guitar or you know, played 1:11:37.479 --> 1:11:40.960 a one note on a piano or saying one note. 1:11:42.760 --> 1:11:44.640 So yeah, I've passed on a bunch of acts. If 1:11:44.680 --> 1:11:48.639 you want to honestly, probably I passed on two three 1:11:48.680 --> 1:11:52.360 acts a year. I'm just not don't think I can 1:11:52.479 --> 1:11:53.000 run with it. 1:11:54.320 --> 1:11:57.360 Okay, you talked about your bus and edge Sharon riding 1:11:57.400 --> 1:12:00.519 in your bus. Your acts go on the road. How 1:12:00.560 --> 1:12:01.759 often are you with the show? 1:12:02.960 --> 1:12:08.040 I am one year, I was on the road like 1:12:08.040 --> 1:12:13.000 two hundred and sixty days. Most of the time, I'm 1:12:13.040 --> 1:12:15.720 between one d one hundred and fifty days a year 1:12:16.880 --> 1:12:17.599 something like that. 1:12:18.600 --> 1:12:20.400 And you do you own a jet. 1:12:21.800 --> 1:12:26.200 I don't own a jet, but I've got you know, 1:12:26.920 --> 1:12:28.680 I've got to deal with net jet. That's what I 1:12:28.800 --> 1:12:33.160 deal you know, a you know, a card, you know, 1:12:34.240 --> 1:12:39.080 on a fractional share. Right, Yeah, So your acts are 1:12:39.080 --> 1:12:41.439 on the road. Are you in the bus or you 1:12:41.600 --> 1:12:45.960 flying in for the gig. I'm usually flying to the gig. 1:12:46.439 --> 1:12:48.240 Then I go on the bus. You know. If I'm 1:12:48.280 --> 1:12:50.639 doing multiple nights, I stay on the bus. I never 1:12:50.680 --> 1:12:53.240 get a I never check into a hotel, you know. 1:12:53.479 --> 1:12:56.600 So the bus is my home, my office, you know, 1:12:57.360 --> 1:13:01.000 and that's that's what I do. Then I'll fly home. 1:13:01.600 --> 1:13:04.200 Okay. Do you have your own bus like Willie Nelson 1:13:04.320 --> 1:13:06.400 or you get a new bus when you're on the road. 1:13:06.720 --> 1:13:09.360 No, I have my own bus, and how. 1:13:09.240 --> 1:13:10.400 Is your bus fitted out? 1:13:11.600 --> 1:13:15.160 It's pretty cool, you know. I mean it's you know, 1:13:15.160 --> 1:13:18.880 it's a double slide out. It's got a front lounge, 1:13:19.520 --> 1:13:25.719 it's got two bathrooms, four bunks, and a queen's size 1:13:25.760 --> 1:13:28.880 bed in the back, full shower. I mean, I know, 1:13:29.280 --> 1:13:32.439 it's got everything. It's like, you know, everything but room service. 1:13:32.479 --> 1:13:34.719 And I got room service anyway, because I go to show, 1:13:35.200 --> 1:13:36.800 I call the runner as I go pick me up 1:13:36.840 --> 1:13:39.720 a hamburger or something. So and you know, there's a 1:13:39.760 --> 1:13:44.040 refrigerator of microwave oven on my bus, so I can 1:13:44.040 --> 1:13:45.080 cook on my bus too. 1:13:45.920 --> 1:13:47.679 So when you're on the road, you're on the bus. 1:13:47.720 --> 1:13:49.640 How many people are on your bus? 1:13:50.360 --> 1:13:54.360 Most of the time it's just me, or if someone's riding, 1:13:54.439 --> 1:13:56.439 you know, I mean, I could have my staff riding 1:13:56.479 --> 1:14:00.840 with me, or somebody needs a rod, you know, time 1:14:00.880 --> 1:14:01.200 it's me. 1:14:02.040 --> 1:14:06.759 Okay, you talk about eating a hamburger. We're in our seventies. Now, 1:14:07.320 --> 1:14:09.880 How is your health and you're eating this road food? 1:14:10.400 --> 1:14:11.200 Tell me about that. 1:14:12.400 --> 1:14:16.160 Actually, my health is really good and I don't eat 1:14:16.439 --> 1:14:19.840 that much. Is very red I eat catering, you know, 1:14:21.120 --> 1:14:25.439 and most of the time I just order out. You know, 1:14:25.560 --> 1:14:28.479 from a restaurant, you know, if it's you know, if 1:14:28.520 --> 1:14:32.960 it's Eddy V's or you know, whatever the good restaurant 1:14:33.000 --> 1:14:34.880 is that's close to the venue. You know, I'll just 1:14:35.320 --> 1:14:37.920 order out and have a good meal. It's very rare. 1:14:38.040 --> 1:14:41.880 I'm you know, schlupping down pizzas at the end of 1:14:41.960 --> 1:14:45.080 the night, you know, and just eating junk, junk, junk. 1:14:45.400 --> 1:14:48.320 It's you know. And then I stopped drinking over a 1:14:48.400 --> 1:14:52.800 year ago, so that's that's made me a lot better 1:14:52.840 --> 1:14:56.640 and more coherent. So my health is great. You know. 1:14:56.920 --> 1:14:59.800 I'm you know, just wear and tearing my body. That's all, 1:15:00.000 --> 1:15:01.120 you know, knees them back. 1:15:02.240 --> 1:15:07.320 Okay, the being goes off the stage at eleven. They're 1:15:07.320 --> 1:15:11.280 playing the next night somewhere. What's your routine? 1:15:12.240 --> 1:15:18.280 Usually routine is, I'll hang on the bus in the beginning, 1:15:18.400 --> 1:15:21.040 have the building come up, you know, do a little 1:15:21.200 --> 1:15:24.960 you know, song, and dance with them. If then it 1:15:25.000 --> 1:15:28.880 depends on the act, if it's George or Eric or Kenny, 1:15:29.200 --> 1:15:33.040 I'll go hang out with them for half hour, hour, 1:15:33.200 --> 1:15:37.439 two hours and you know, just shoot the ship and 1:15:37.720 --> 1:15:42.000 talk about life. That's what I do. And then if 1:15:42.040 --> 1:15:43.960 we have a show next night, I'd just go back 1:15:44.000 --> 1:15:47.519 on my bus, go to sleep, wake up at the 1:15:47.560 --> 1:15:49.639 gig the next day, and do it all over again. 1:15:49.800 --> 1:15:54.400 Okay, gigs over at eleven? What time would you be 1:15:54.439 --> 1:15:55.240 in your bus? 1:15:57.080 --> 1:16:03.040 Eleven oh two? And then I know I'll go usually 1:16:03.120 --> 1:16:05.680 go on my bus and then let the autist you know, 1:16:05.800 --> 1:16:09.960 cool off, and usually they have their little you know, 1:16:10.080 --> 1:16:14.200 their gassed and then then you know, I'll go go 1:16:14.320 --> 1:16:16.080 on their bus or they'll come on my bus and 1:16:16.120 --> 1:16:17.280 we just hang out. 1:16:18.400 --> 1:16:20.559 If the dig is over to eleven, at what point 1:16:20.600 --> 1:16:22.000 do you put your head on the pillow? 1:16:22.920 --> 1:16:26.200 Could be twelve, it could be four o'clock in the morning. 1:16:27.439 --> 1:16:30.679 You know, inherently on the road it's hard to sleep. 1:16:31.320 --> 1:16:33.280 So how's your situation with sleep? 1:16:34.520 --> 1:16:38.000 I have a comfortable bus. I mean it's good. I 1:16:38.040 --> 1:16:41.400 don't know, you know, since I stopped drinking before, it 1:16:41.439 --> 1:16:46.519 wasn't sleeping, it was just passing out. But I sleep 1:16:46.560 --> 1:16:48.760 good on the bus. I love my bus, you know. 1:16:48.920 --> 1:16:51.280 I mean, it's a queen size bed. I've got a 1:16:51.400 --> 1:16:54.360 tell you know, huge TV back there. I mean, it's 1:16:54.920 --> 1:16:57.280 it's definitely home away from home. I love it. 1:16:58.640 --> 1:17:01.800 Well, are you looking forward to getting home to a 1:17:01.880 --> 1:17:04.080 normal life or do you do you feel like you're 1:17:04.080 --> 1:17:06.560 burning your candle on both ends on the road or 1:17:06.600 --> 1:17:08.400 could you stay on the road indefinitely? 1:17:09.320 --> 1:17:14.360 Now, this year I picked and choose because I had, 1:17:14.439 --> 1:17:18.120 you know, Taylor, ED and Straight playing at the same time. 1:17:18.439 --> 1:17:21.000 So I was only gone, you know, like two days 1:17:21.040 --> 1:17:24.559 a week because I couldn't go to because they all 1:17:24.560 --> 1:17:29.640 played on Saturday night, you know. And and so I 1:17:29.640 --> 1:17:33.120 would go to George one weekend, Taylor one weekend, ED 1:17:33.160 --> 1:17:35.680 one weekend, and you know, That's what I did the 1:17:35.720 --> 1:17:38.920 whole summer. You know. So this summer, as busy as 1:17:39.000 --> 1:17:42.240 I was, it was probably was the lightest the least. 1:17:42.400 --> 1:17:44.760 I think I was under one hundred shows this year 1:17:46.080 --> 1:17:49.240 because I didn't stay at all seven Taylor Swift shows 1:17:49.320 --> 1:17:50.440 or six shows. 1:17:51.120 --> 1:17:53.400 Okay, do you watch the show? 1:17:54.320 --> 1:17:59.160 Absolutely? Absolutely watch the show, you know, I mean, do 1:17:59.240 --> 1:18:02.320 I watch one hundred center of this show? Not every night? 1:18:02.760 --> 1:18:06.519 But am I out there. That's where I'm getting my education, 1:18:06.960 --> 1:18:09.639 and that's where honestly, I'm watching the opening acts, I'm 1:18:09.640 --> 1:18:13.640 watching and I'm watching the artists. I mean, I know 1:18:13.760 --> 1:18:17.320 George's set list by hard, Taylor is set list by heart. Kenny, 1:18:17.760 --> 1:18:22.080 I'm always you know, and you know, and yeah, that's 1:18:22.080 --> 1:18:24.479 what I do. I mean, I have nothing else to do. 1:18:25.600 --> 1:18:29.080 I really have nothing to do at a show because 1:18:29.560 --> 1:18:32.639 my job is done. You know, I'm working on next 1:18:32.720 --> 1:18:36.280 year in a year after. And my team you know who, 1:18:37.320 --> 1:18:40.080 because I assigned a team to every autist. They're the 1:18:40.120 --> 1:18:42.240 ones that are doing all the work to day of 1:18:42.240 --> 1:18:44.519 the show. I always say, if I got something to 1:18:44.560 --> 1:18:47.200 do day to show, I didn't do my job. And 1:18:47.920 --> 1:18:51.559 so I'm there really bored as crap at the show. 1:18:52.040 --> 1:18:54.880 But the only thing I have is the entertainment, so 1:18:55.400 --> 1:18:57.679 which I love because when I walk into a sold 1:18:57.720 --> 1:19:01.559 out stadium, I'm I'm a pre o Papa man. You know. 1:19:01.560 --> 1:19:04.799 I always say, that's my Academy award, that's my Grammy. 1:19:05.080 --> 1:19:08.439 When I see, you know, fifty five, sixty thousand people 1:19:08.760 --> 1:19:13.080 or fifteen thousand people in an arena, I just there's 1:19:13.120 --> 1:19:19.960 nothing like nothing more exciting than seeing that energy in 1:19:20.040 --> 1:19:20.760 a facility. 1:19:21.920 --> 1:19:23.840 Okay, you go to bed in the bus. What time 1:19:23.840 --> 1:19:24.479 do you wake up? 1:19:25.760 --> 1:19:29.719 It could be eight o'clock in the morning, and now 1:19:29.960 --> 1:19:32.400 that I don't drink anymore, usually it's eight o'clock in 1:19:32.400 --> 1:19:35.240 the morning before who knows. 1:19:35.400 --> 1:19:37.799 And you wake up, what do you do you immediately 1:19:37.840 --> 1:19:39.879 jump on the phone. 1:19:40.560 --> 1:19:42.800 You know, most of the time I'm on it. It's 1:19:42.840 --> 1:19:48.280 the weekend. Yeah, I'm on the phone. Coffee building, people 1:19:48.320 --> 1:19:50.519 come on in and out, my people on in and out, 1:19:50.520 --> 1:19:53.720 my bus all day, you know, to my staff if 1:19:53.760 --> 1:19:58.240 it's the building. But yeah, I'm doing phone work. I'm 1:19:58.280 --> 1:20:03.920 doing you know, you know, responding to emails and doing 1:20:03.960 --> 1:20:07.240 all that stuff and just hanging out. But most of 1:20:07.240 --> 1:20:09.360 my show, you know, most of the time, it's the weekend, 1:20:09.479 --> 1:20:12.639 so there's you know, it's kind of quiet as far 1:20:12.680 --> 1:20:13.840 as the business goes. 1:20:15.080 --> 1:20:16.680 So how many people do work for you? 1:20:17.720 --> 1:20:22.360 We have total between here and Nashville, only forty five people. 1:20:23.040 --> 1:20:24.280 I think it's around forty five. 1:20:25.360 --> 1:20:28.400 And when you talk about your team on the road 1:20:28.439 --> 1:20:30.720 with the act, are those full time employees? 1:20:31.120 --> 1:20:34.240 Yeah? All my employees are full time. 1:20:34.880 --> 1:20:37.400 So are they only working on one act or they 1:20:37.400 --> 1:20:39.040 work on multiple acts? 1:20:40.720 --> 1:20:44.639 Most of them just work on one act the marketing 1:20:44.680 --> 1:20:49.920 people use. Sometimes we'll work on two or three acts. Max. 1:20:52.240 --> 1:20:56.160 It's very rare that the acts that work on overlap 1:20:56.200 --> 1:20:59.599 with each other. You know, where Kate only to actually 1:20:59.600 --> 1:21:02.560 works on is George Straight and Kenny Chesney. Kate McMahon 1:21:03.200 --> 1:21:07.200 Sarah went to She works on Ed Taylor and Illumineers 1:21:08.080 --> 1:21:11.639 and that's it, you know. Rachel Powells just works on 1:21:11.920 --> 1:21:18.559 Eric and Blake, you know. And that's how I divide 1:21:18.560 --> 1:21:21.479 it up. I mean, and then I have like Mike 1:21:21.560 --> 1:21:24.559 Dugan All he's president of the company, but all he 1:21:24.680 --> 1:21:29.360 does is Taylor, you know, that's his only act Rome. 1:21:29.479 --> 1:21:32.680 All he does is Kenny Chesney. So you know, I 1:21:33.640 --> 1:21:37.640 my road people, they're really only really have one or 1:21:37.680 --> 1:21:40.559 two acts max that they work with and never at 1:21:40.600 --> 1:21:42.959 the same time, Let's. 1:21:42.720 --> 1:21:44.760 Say I call you and I say we're getting on 1:21:44.800 --> 1:21:47.080 the jet. We're going to this island where there's no 1:21:47.320 --> 1:21:50.600 cell service, no internet for two weeks. And let's just 1:21:50.680 --> 1:21:55.040 assume you're enticed by the trip. Can you go for 1:21:55.120 --> 1:21:57.280 two weeks without being connected to your people? 1:22:00.360 --> 1:22:05.200 If Christine allows me to go. Yes, I've got a 1:22:05.240 --> 1:22:11.280 great team. I'm not kidding I in what I've done 1:22:11.280 --> 1:22:17.200 with everyone here, I've empowered everyone to make decisions on 1:22:17.240 --> 1:22:20.320 their own. They know what they know the difference between 1:22:20.360 --> 1:22:23.360 right and wrong. I don't have any gunslingers here. We 1:22:23.479 --> 1:22:26.600 know they know my model, I know their model. You know. 1:22:26.720 --> 1:22:31.000 It's like they know the autos so they can make decisions. 1:22:31.720 --> 1:22:36.320 I mean, if something really crazy, they would find a 1:22:36.360 --> 1:22:38.519 way to get to me. But the answer is yes, 1:22:38.640 --> 1:22:41.200 I could turn I could. Like last week, I just 1:22:41.800 --> 1:22:44.320 I said, screw it, I'm not you know, I went 1:22:44.360 --> 1:22:47.800 to my ranch, my ranch by places dripping springs and 1:22:48.240 --> 1:22:50.759 got on my skits theer and I pulled up ceedar 1:22:50.840 --> 1:22:53.880 trees for three days because I just had to get away. Man. 1:22:54.040 --> 1:22:56.759 You know, I just you know, I just I wanted 1:22:56.800 --> 1:22:59.760 a mindless job to do, and that's what I did. 1:23:00.960 --> 1:23:03.720 If you're in town, does it ever shut down? Or 1:23:03.760 --> 1:23:05.680 is somebody going to be calling you all night? Or 1:23:05.720 --> 1:23:06.960 you're going to pick up the phone? 1:23:07.520 --> 1:23:09.960 No, I won't pick up the call. I mean I 1:23:10.160 --> 1:23:13.280 will if I have a show on the road and 1:23:13.360 --> 1:23:15.960 the phone rings. I was looking to see who's calling. 1:23:17.680 --> 1:23:21.439 But if it's after seven o'clock, I'm not picking up 1:23:21.439 --> 1:23:24.160 the call. I used to I used to be a 1:23:24.200 --> 1:23:28.879 phone junkie, but not anymore because they'll be there tomorrow. 1:23:37.160 --> 1:23:38.400 So why'd you give up drinking? 1:23:39.760 --> 1:23:46.479 I just decided, you know, it wasn't healthy for my 1:23:46.560 --> 1:23:52.680 personal relationship with my wife and family and my you know, 1:23:52.800 --> 1:23:54.960 I'm getting up in the age and I just had 1:23:54.960 --> 1:23:57.479 a good run with Jack Daniels. I just I got 1:23:57.479 --> 1:23:58.200 tired of drinking. 1:23:59.280 --> 1:24:00.240 Have you quit the four? 1:24:03.840 --> 1:24:07.920 Not seriously? But it was never dependent on a drink, 1:24:07.960 --> 1:24:11.519 you know. I always say I'm only drinking when I'm drinking, 1:24:12.960 --> 1:24:16.920 you know. Oh that's why they call it drinking, because 1:24:17.200 --> 1:24:19.800 once I have won, the party starts. But if I 1:24:19.840 --> 1:24:22.200 don't have a you know, I would go a month, 1:24:22.280 --> 1:24:24.920 two months without a drink. But you know, you know 1:24:25.200 --> 1:24:28.760 my environment, I'm usually the first one. I start the 1:24:28.800 --> 1:24:32.040 party and I end the party, you know. But I 1:24:32.160 --> 1:24:35.360 just you know, I mean shit, holding Court. I mean, 1:24:35.360 --> 1:24:38.719 this is gonna be my first Grammys without my first 1:24:38.760 --> 1:24:42.680 Grammy sober. And you know, the Chairman's lounge was was 1:24:43.400 --> 1:24:46.439 that was my roost man. I ruled that that was 1:24:46.439 --> 1:24:51.439 my lounge, you know. And I did more business in 1:24:51.520 --> 1:24:55.040 the Chairman's Lounge than I did, I mean anywhere around 1:24:55.479 --> 1:25:01.240 just you know, just holding Court, and that's where So 1:25:01.320 --> 1:25:04.200 this could be. I don't know. I survived the Kenny 1:25:04.240 --> 1:25:07.960 Chesney Taylors with Ed sheeran George Straight tour without a drink, 1:25:08.160 --> 1:25:10.640 without a drink. I think I can survive the Grammys. 1:25:11.479 --> 1:25:13.800 So what have you noticed has been different. Now since 1:25:13.800 --> 1:25:15.000 you stopped drinking. 1:25:15.479 --> 1:25:17.639 I can remember what I said the night before. 1:25:21.080 --> 1:25:28.599 Okay, to what degree has this gig affected your personal life? 1:25:30.040 --> 1:25:33.080 It's tough, man, you know a lot. I mean, you know, 1:25:33.080 --> 1:25:36.160 it's just when I'm on the road so much, and 1:25:37.160 --> 1:25:42.000 it's a disconnect between myself and my family. And that's 1:25:42.040 --> 1:25:44.719 why I made a commitment that I won't travel as much. 1:25:44.800 --> 1:25:48.320 But this is after fifty one years of doing this, 1:25:48.439 --> 1:25:52.559 so yeah, it's you know, it's affected my life. It's 1:25:52.600 --> 1:25:55.439 really hard to be married to me or to be 1:25:55.800 --> 1:26:01.000 a child of mine because I'm gone to be. Like 1:26:01.160 --> 1:26:05.680 I told you, I was the workaholic guy. That was NonStop. 1:26:05.800 --> 1:26:07.599 I mean the time I woke up in the morning, 1:26:07.880 --> 1:26:11.400 I mean, you know, a cup of coffee in one hand, 1:26:11.439 --> 1:26:14.120 cigarette and the other hand, and just jam and jam 1:26:14.120 --> 1:26:17.320 and jam and jamming. And that was all day and 1:26:17.400 --> 1:26:19.479 all night. And I couldn't do it. I just didn't 1:26:19.479 --> 1:26:21.559 want to do it. When when Christine and I got 1:26:21.560 --> 1:26:26.760 together was you know, it's over twenty years ago. I 1:26:26.840 --> 1:26:29.719 even though, I mean I would cut the phone off 1:26:30.120 --> 1:26:32.240 at a certain time. That's why I started, but I 1:26:32.280 --> 1:26:36.000 still my traveling and it was tough. I mean, we 1:26:36.000 --> 1:26:40.720 we we had a tough time, you know, keeping all 1:26:41.080 --> 1:26:44.960 keeping our relationship together. And that's why I had to 1:26:45.080 --> 1:26:46.880 change things. And you know, that's why I made a 1:26:46.920 --> 1:26:50.880 life change decision as far as drinking, as far as traveling, 1:26:51.200 --> 1:26:57.559 and just I just wanted to change and because I 1:26:57.600 --> 1:27:01.120 love my family and I love what I do and 1:27:01.160 --> 1:27:02.519 I want to do this for a long time. 1:27:03.200 --> 1:27:05.040 How many times you've been married in how many kids 1:27:05.120 --> 1:27:05.439 do you have? 1:27:06.400 --> 1:27:09.479 Oh? Man, okay, I'll be on the four. I've been 1:27:09.520 --> 1:27:15.080 married four times. The third one didn't count though, And 1:27:15.160 --> 1:27:15.439 I have. 1:27:15.439 --> 1:27:17.920 Six kids, and what are those kids up to? 1:27:19.280 --> 1:27:23.639 See? My oldest son. He teaches jiu jitsu and mixed 1:27:23.640 --> 1:27:27.840 martial arts in Katie, Texas. He's got he owns like 1:27:27.880 --> 1:27:35.040 four gyms. Lewis Junior he works here. He oversees Sean 1:27:35.120 --> 1:27:42.920 Mendez in different other projects. Christopher's on the road. He 1:27:42.960 --> 1:27:47.360 works with Todd Stewart who does events, staffing and chairs 1:27:47.439 --> 1:27:51.680 for stadiums. That's what he does. And Barack is in 1:27:51.800 --> 1:27:55.639 transition right now. He just just finished the course. He's 1:27:55.640 --> 1:27:59.559 going into UH as an analyst. That's what he's trying 1:27:59.560 --> 1:28:02.120 to get a job. Is an analyst who with a 1:28:02.200 --> 1:28:08.479 company and My oldest daughter's eighteen. She's graduating this year 1:28:08.520 --> 1:28:12.240 and she'll be going to Sarah Lawrence and she's gonna 1:28:12.240 --> 1:28:17.400 study film. And then Gabrielle is fourteen. She's gonna be 1:28:17.400 --> 1:28:20.760 a superstar on the theater one day, and she's a 1:28:20.800 --> 1:28:22.759 freshman in college in high school. 1:28:23.439 --> 1:28:27.120 So what's your philosophy in terms of financially supporting your children? 1:28:28.479 --> 1:28:31.120 Man, that's a tough I don't really I mean my 1:28:31.200 --> 1:28:34.160 sons I don't support. They're on their own. I mean, 1:28:34.240 --> 1:28:39.600 Lewis is here. I don't know that that's you know, 1:28:41.120 --> 1:28:44.559 you know, when you're talking about estates and stuff, do 1:28:44.640 --> 1:28:49.240 you give it? It's so funny. When I started Pace Concerts, 1:28:50.080 --> 1:28:53.120 I didn't have two Nichols to rub together, right, And 1:28:53.240 --> 1:28:56.439 I moved to Texas, I mean didn't have a penny. 1:28:56.960 --> 1:29:02.680 And everybodybody else they're around me, they were all like 1:29:02.760 --> 1:29:06.320 trust fund kids, and they all had a head start life, 1:29:06.800 --> 1:29:11.000 you know, and I started with negative. I had to 1:29:11.000 --> 1:29:14.280 pay off my parents's debt, you know, even though I 1:29:14.280 --> 1:29:18.320 had three other siblings, I'm the one that paid off 1:29:18.320 --> 1:29:21.120 the bills. And I always made a commitment to myself 1:29:21.200 --> 1:29:24.519 that my kids will never be in that situation where 1:29:24.560 --> 1:29:26.160 I'm going to always you know, they're going to get 1:29:26.200 --> 1:29:29.640 a head start life. Well now that I'm here, I 1:29:29.680 --> 1:29:34.880 mean now I don't want to, like, I don't want 1:29:34.920 --> 1:29:38.920 to enable them to not be driven. You know, I 1:29:38.960 --> 1:29:41.439 don't want to be their retirement. Let me say that. 1:29:42.000 --> 1:29:43.800 But it's a tough one to go. You know. Do 1:29:43.880 --> 1:29:46.080 I give all money in the charity? I don't know. 1:29:46.600 --> 1:29:52.559 You know, they're all doing good, so I don't know. 1:29:52.640 --> 1:29:55.200 I'm not supporting my kids. Let me just say, but 1:29:55.280 --> 1:29:59.080 anytime they need something, I'm always there for them. 1:29:59.320 --> 1:30:02.320 You talked about working twenty four to seven earlier in 1:30:02.360 --> 1:30:06.040 your career. Yeah, if you hadn't worked twenty four to seven, 1:30:06.080 --> 1:30:08.920 would you be where you are today? 1:30:08.960 --> 1:30:12.720 Probably not? You know, probably not. I mean I had 1:30:12.760 --> 1:30:14.639 a lot of good Alan Becker taught me a lot 1:30:14.680 --> 1:30:18.360 about business and life, so I owe him a lot 1:30:18.360 --> 1:30:23.400 of gratitude. But I was always driven. I was always 1:30:23.439 --> 1:30:29.160 always driven, and I never I've never reached my goals 1:30:29.160 --> 1:30:32.160 of my whole career because whenever I get close to 1:30:33.120 --> 1:30:36.439 a goal, I always raised the bar. And I think 1:30:36.479 --> 1:30:39.440 that's why the artists I work for are so successful, 1:30:39.520 --> 1:30:43.599 because I keep on convincing them to raise their bar. 1:30:44.479 --> 1:30:47.799 And you know, my line is tell me your dreams 1:30:47.840 --> 1:30:53.280 and I'll dream you. And I just want to keep them, always, 1:30:53.280 --> 1:31:00.320 never getting to a goal, because if you reach your goal, 1:31:00.680 --> 1:31:03.960 where is there to go to? So I keep on moving, 1:31:04.040 --> 1:31:04.960 I keep on moving. 1:31:05.000 --> 1:31:10.720 The line tell me about paying off your parents' debts. 1:31:09.400 --> 1:31:10.920 Simple as that I had to pay it off. 1:31:11.840 --> 1:31:14.000 Were your parents still alive at that point? 1:31:14.120 --> 1:31:17.920 No, no, no they no, no no no. I only 1:31:17.960 --> 1:31:23.559 have one on one sister that's still alive. My oldest 1:31:23.560 --> 1:31:27.719 sister passed and my brother, oldest brother has passed away, 1:31:27.960 --> 1:31:31.360 and both my parents are pasted. You know, they're gone. 1:31:31.600 --> 1:31:34.559 And so you know, I've got one sister, a lot 1:31:34.600 --> 1:31:39.080 of nieces and nephews in New Orleans and then my family. 1:31:39.800 --> 1:31:41.840 Okay, so you grow up in New Orleans in the 1:31:41.880 --> 1:31:45.240 fifties and sixties. They even have a different legal system. 1:31:45.280 --> 1:31:47.960 In Louisiana, they didn't have a legal system. 1:31:48.080 --> 1:31:51.320 And it's not like they had internet and they don't 1:31:51.400 --> 1:31:54.280 have cable TV at the time. What was it like 1:31:54.400 --> 1:31:57.280 growing up in New Orleans? And how is that different 1:31:57.280 --> 1:31:59.599 from how other people grew up to the degree you know. 1:32:01.880 --> 1:32:08.600 Well, let me say this, my family integrated the neighborhood 1:32:09.080 --> 1:32:13.880 where we were the only white family, like in a 1:32:14.000 --> 1:32:20.439 three block radius or two block radius. But growing up, 1:32:20.640 --> 1:32:23.280 you know, I say, I'm just a kid from the 1:32:23.320 --> 1:32:26.120 streets of New Orleans, and I really am. You know, 1:32:27.920 --> 1:32:31.120 New Orleans was tough. I mean it was tough town. 1:32:31.240 --> 1:32:34.840 I mean it's it's a tough town today. I hate 1:32:34.880 --> 1:32:37.320 going back there, you know. I mean I like going 1:32:37.360 --> 1:32:39.960 back there. I have a show and I'm just going there. 1:32:40.000 --> 1:32:42.799 But man, would I have a move back there? No, 1:32:43.280 --> 1:32:47.639 not a shot. It's it's filthy, it's it's corrupt. It's 1:32:47.640 --> 1:32:50.840 still corrupt, and doing business there is like you know, 1:32:50.920 --> 1:32:55.800 the big things where you from where you at. You know, please, man, 1:32:56.080 --> 1:32:59.439 you know, but it was tough. You know, I don't 1:32:59.439 --> 1:33:03.520 have a lot of great memories from New Orleans. Uh. 1:33:03.560 --> 1:33:07.799 It's it's one of those things that there's no looking 1:33:07.840 --> 1:33:08.320 back there. 1:33:09.720 --> 1:33:12.360 So you'd say it was tough. Was it personally tough? 1:33:12.439 --> 1:33:14.480 Like you getting beaten up and surviving. 1:33:16.400 --> 1:33:21.679 Well, I've had, you know, I'm given a few black 1:33:21.680 --> 1:33:24.519 eyes and I've got a few black eyes, and yeah, 1:33:24.600 --> 1:33:27.160 I mean it was tough, you know. I mean, uh, 1:33:27.720 --> 1:33:31.679 my grandfather was an Italian immigrant. My mom and dad 1:33:31.760 --> 1:33:35.240 hated each other, and it was it was miserable, you know. 1:33:35.520 --> 1:33:40.080 I mean I had a terrible childhood, you know, and 1:33:41.040 --> 1:33:44.360 you know it's just there's not there was never fund 1:33:44.600 --> 1:33:49.840 found memories of of my childhood. You know. There's a 1:33:49.880 --> 1:33:53.760 lot of therapy. I'm still going to to to work 1:33:54.280 --> 1:33:57.759 through my through all my craft, even at my age. 1:33:58.080 --> 1:33:59.280 So do you go to therapy? 1:33:59.439 --> 1:34:00.240 Oh? Absolute? 1:34:01.320 --> 1:34:04.240 So how did you decide to go to therapy? 1:34:04.600 --> 1:34:08.280 Because I knew I couldn't handle this by myself, you know, 1:34:08.880 --> 1:34:15.320 I mean, I've got this thing. I think Richard Lewis 1:34:15.439 --> 1:34:19.040 was the comedian who said this problems. Sure, I've got problems. 1:34:19.080 --> 1:34:22.200 I have fresh problems flown in every day, you know. 1:34:22.960 --> 1:34:25.519 And that's kind of me, you know. I mean, you know, 1:34:26.160 --> 1:34:33.879 trying to balance work, personal, you know, and myself. It's difficult. 1:34:34.000 --> 1:34:36.360 It's being Lewis is a hard time. It was a 1:34:36.360 --> 1:34:37.240 full time job. 1:34:38.360 --> 1:34:45.599 So what have you learned in therapy? 1:34:46.520 --> 1:34:50.880 The biggest lesson I learned in therapy about everything is 1:34:50.920 --> 1:34:57.400 be true to yourself. Is too don't make any commitments 1:34:57.400 --> 1:35:02.040 that would you wouldn't make te yourself, meaning like when 1:35:02.080 --> 1:35:06.160 I stopped drinking, I didn't promise Christine or anybody else, 1:35:06.160 --> 1:35:09.160 I would stop drinking. I promised me to stop drinking. 1:35:10.040 --> 1:35:14.439 You know, when I wanted to do what I'm doing 1:35:14.520 --> 1:35:19.920 now at Messina Touring. This is what I wanted to do. 1:35:20.040 --> 1:35:22.519 I made a commitment and I stayed on my path. 1:35:23.040 --> 1:35:27.479 I didn't try to you know, I'm not still not trying. 1:35:28.040 --> 1:35:30.200 I've got the hottest hand in the business right now, 1:35:30.560 --> 1:35:35.280 right I really do. And I'm not trying to sign 1:35:35.320 --> 1:35:38.760 every act that that's coming my way. You know, it's 1:35:38.760 --> 1:35:42.080 still my model. It's one act at a time, and 1:35:42.120 --> 1:35:44.880 the act that I have to believe in personally believe in, 1:35:45.720 --> 1:35:49.160 and my team has to believe in it too. Because 1:35:51.320 --> 1:35:54.960 it's so funny that last week I was I was 1:35:55.000 --> 1:35:59.880 in Nashville, and because I was a big Milltown fan, 1:36:00.320 --> 1:36:06.240 and I met Barry Gordy Son and I went, oh, 1:36:06.280 --> 1:36:08.559 my gosh, he was excited to meet me. And I 1:36:08.640 --> 1:36:11.719 was like, you know, I grew up and I remember 1:36:12.160 --> 1:36:15.880 reading I mean, there was this documentary with Barry Gordy 1:36:15.920 --> 1:36:19.680 and Smokey Robinson how every week they would, you know, 1:36:19.720 --> 1:36:22.599 people would bring in their songs in and everyone would 1:36:22.680 --> 1:36:25.360 have to agree upon the song, you know, and that's 1:36:25.439 --> 1:36:28.080 kind of how I am around here where my whole 1:36:28.120 --> 1:36:31.200 team has to agree upon the acts that we work with, 1:36:31.400 --> 1:36:34.640 where we're just not going, Oh, Nickelback's coming back out, 1:36:34.680 --> 1:36:38.240 I'm going after them. Oh, I'm going after you know so, 1:36:38.320 --> 1:36:40.800 and so that's not the case. It's got to be 1:36:41.160 --> 1:36:44.519 like I'm staying on course. You know, we believe in 1:36:44.600 --> 1:36:48.240 something and they believe in me. That's what we want 1:36:48.240 --> 1:36:49.120 to be in business with. 1:36:50.720 --> 1:36:52.960 So what kind of kid were you growing up? Did 1:36:53.000 --> 1:36:55.320 you have friends? Were you good at school? Were you 1:36:55.320 --> 1:36:57.160 good at sports? None of the above. 1:36:57.920 --> 1:37:01.480 I was pretty good at sports and basketball and baseball, 1:37:01.800 --> 1:37:05.720 and I had tons of friends. I was very mediocre 1:37:05.960 --> 1:37:12.840 or terrible at school because I hardly ever went and 1:37:12.840 --> 1:37:18.080 and literally, Bruce says, I've learned more from a three 1:37:18.160 --> 1:37:21.760 minute record that I've learned in school. And you know, 1:37:21.920 --> 1:37:25.920 I grew up on the streets, I really did. I'm 1:37:26.040 --> 1:37:31.559 very you know, street savvy. Uh, And that's it was 1:37:31.600 --> 1:37:33.840 tough in New Orleans. I mean no, Yeah, I had 1:37:33.880 --> 1:37:37.080 tons of friends, I had, you know, and I played 1:37:37.080 --> 1:37:40.720 sports year round. But then you know, I couldn't hit 1:37:40.720 --> 1:37:42.840 a curveball, so that was the end of my baseball career. 1:37:43.479 --> 1:37:48.800 And I could, you know, and white men can't jump. 1:37:48.920 --> 1:37:51.559 So I was in my basketball career too. 1:37:52.760 --> 1:37:57.320 So you know, New Orleans has its own unique musical sound. 1:37:57.600 --> 1:37:59.680 Was that something you were aware of and connected to 1:37:59.760 --> 1:38:00.400 growing up? 1:38:01.040 --> 1:38:05.360 Yeah? Yes and no, I mean, of course I listened 1:38:05.360 --> 1:38:10.240 to You know, my dad had a friend, uh, Barry McKinley. 1:38:10.280 --> 1:38:14.120 He had a radio station. He worked at radio station WYLD, 1:38:14.320 --> 1:38:16.320 and he was a disc jockey. He was also a 1:38:16.320 --> 1:38:18.880 concert promoter and he brought in all the our you know, 1:38:19.040 --> 1:38:21.679 R and B acts, and so whenever James Brown would 1:38:21.680 --> 1:38:23.280 come to town, you know, it would be me and 1:38:23.320 --> 1:38:26.439 my six white friends at the James Brown show. And 1:38:26.479 --> 1:38:30.280 so you know me growing up with you know, Fats Domino, 1:38:30.600 --> 1:38:34.720 Ernie Cato, Erna Thomas, and you know those great New 1:38:34.840 --> 1:38:39.000 Orleans artists back then. I mean doctor John and you 1:38:39.040 --> 1:38:42.080 know that was later on. But I grew up listening 1:38:42.120 --> 1:38:46.200 to music and loved it. And so, uh, you know, 1:38:46.240 --> 1:38:50.360 we lived downtown. I lived right by them Miscal Auditorium, 1:38:51.200 --> 1:38:55.000 right about three blocks from the French Quarter. And uh 1:38:55.200 --> 1:38:58.760 Mardi Gras day, like the Mardi Gras Indians would start 1:38:58.840 --> 1:39:01.360 right in front of my house. And so it mean, 1:39:01.560 --> 1:39:05.360 you know, music was always around and I always loved music. 1:39:05.600 --> 1:39:07.400 I mean when I was seven years When I was 1:39:07.400 --> 1:39:10.360 seven years old, I saw Elvis at the Municipal Auditorium 1:39:10.439 --> 1:39:12.320 and that's what got me hooked. 1:39:12.320 --> 1:39:16.559 Man, Okay, you saw Elvis, other than the acts you've 1:39:16.600 --> 1:39:20.240 worked with. Now, what are the two best shows you've 1:39:20.240 --> 1:39:20.800 ever seen? 1:39:22.479 --> 1:39:29.160 Oh? Man, I can't answer that question, you know, I mean, uh, 1:39:29.800 --> 1:39:30.880 you're gonna you. 1:39:30.800 --> 1:39:34.639 Know, well, a couple of memorable shows. 1:39:37.680 --> 1:39:42.280 My most memorable show, it was not even a live show. 1:39:42.840 --> 1:39:47.920 It was the Monterey Pop Festival. The movie That was 1:39:47.960 --> 1:39:51.400 my most memorable show. That show and the Tammy Show, 1:39:52.840 --> 1:39:56.439 those are the two shows that man, that blew me away, 1:39:57.320 --> 1:40:00.400 you know. And I remember one year or so Dick 1:40:00.520 --> 1:40:03.960 Clark's Cavalcade of Stars in New Orleans, and that also 1:40:04.000 --> 1:40:06.280 blew me away because everybody was just doing like one hit, 1:40:06.360 --> 1:40:09.559 you know, to do the house band and everybody doing 1:40:09.600 --> 1:40:14.920 two three songs, and you know, Den it's hard to say. 1:40:14.960 --> 1:40:17.320 I mean, I get off on every show. I mean, 1:40:18.520 --> 1:40:20.479 you know, say, like when I'm at a Taylors show, 1:40:20.720 --> 1:40:23.439 there's nothing like it. And of course then I'm at 1:40:23.479 --> 1:40:26.000 a George Straight show There's nothing like it, you know, 1:40:26.320 --> 1:40:29.240 And Kenny's show, I mean, I just love what I do, man, 1:40:29.640 --> 1:40:33.120 so I can't say this is you know, this show. Yeah, 1:40:33.240 --> 1:40:39.519 seeing Elvis made the most biggest impression on me when 1:40:39.560 --> 1:40:44.840 I was a kid. But I just I don't know everybody. 1:40:45.000 --> 1:40:47.600 I look around my look at you know, pictures on 1:40:47.600 --> 1:40:51.479 my walls, sea, watching the illumineers grow from where I 1:40:51.560 --> 1:40:54.320 first got involved with them to where they are today. 1:40:55.560 --> 1:40:58.439 They're all memorable. Now when you know, the first time 1:40:58.479 --> 1:41:04.400 we played that stadium in Denver, that was memorable. First 1:41:04.400 --> 1:41:07.479 time I put George in the stadium in Phoenix back 1:41:07.520 --> 1:41:13.080 in ninety six or so, that was memorable. And you know, Taylor, 1:41:13.120 --> 1:41:18.559 I've got a picture, right, I got an autograph. I 1:41:18.600 --> 1:41:20.280 was up for a Promoter of the Year or something. 1:41:20.800 --> 1:41:23.960 Just you're my promoter. Thank you, Thank thank you for 1:41:24.080 --> 1:41:28.160 believing I could sell out stadiums, you know. And you 1:41:28.200 --> 1:41:32.280 know her playing Foxborough on her first tour, you know, 1:41:32.640 --> 1:41:35.639 ending a tour at Foxborough, you let stadium and sold out. 1:41:36.439 --> 1:41:40.360 That was memorable. You know. So it's hard, you know. 1:41:41.120 --> 1:41:43.120 So how'd you get into this business? 1:41:44.040 --> 1:41:47.519 So you Elvis, you know, high school, I was promoting 1:41:47.520 --> 1:41:51.519 local bands, local dances and uh and I was on 1:41:51.560 --> 1:41:55.400 a mission to do exactly what I'm doing today on 1:41:55.479 --> 1:41:55.960 a mission. 1:41:56.280 --> 1:41:57.200 How'd you get into it? 1:42:01.080 --> 1:42:03.960 I went to work. I knew I wanted to do this. 1:42:04.040 --> 1:42:06.280 I had no money, had no nothing. I went to 1:42:06.320 --> 1:42:10.080 work at a radio station WWM Radio in New Orleans 1:42:10.280 --> 1:42:13.559 also known as Mother Radio, one of the first FM 1:42:13.680 --> 1:42:19.880 underground radio stations FM station, and so I took a 1:42:19.960 --> 1:42:27.280 job there as a salesman and I started meeting people there, 1:42:27.880 --> 1:42:31.400 you know, meeting record reps and stuff. And I finally 1:42:32.880 --> 1:42:36.680 through this record rep with Warner Bros. Introduced me to 1:42:37.320 --> 1:42:40.479 Joe Sullivan. He was a promoter out of Nashville. He 1:42:40.520 --> 1:42:45.960 had a company called Sound seventy Productions and he came 1:42:46.000 --> 1:42:49.360 down to New Orleans. We met, He had a run 1:42:49.360 --> 1:42:52.200 of dates with Curtis Mayfield and BB King. We did 1:42:52.240 --> 1:42:57.679 the show together and that's how I really got started, 1:42:58.680 --> 1:43:01.559 you know, with Joe sol then taking a shot with me. 1:43:02.720 --> 1:43:05.439 And how did you end up putting together Texas Jam? 1:43:06.640 --> 1:43:10.040 Uh? Data Crabs was doing the cow Jam and he 1:43:10.120 --> 1:43:13.120 calls me up and he goes, I want to what 1:43:13.160 --> 1:43:16.320 do you think about doing the show? Silma is their 1:43:16.400 --> 1:43:19.439 speedway in Texas? I go, yeah, there's one in Brian, Texas. 1:43:19.960 --> 1:43:22.519 And then I went to the cow Jam the year 1:43:22.560 --> 1:43:25.080 before and it was a It was a cluster, man. 1:43:25.439 --> 1:43:29.559 I mean people were knocking over as Ontario Speedway. People 1:43:29.560 --> 1:43:33.440 were knocking over the fences and all that stuff. And 1:43:34.800 --> 1:43:38.400 I'll never forget. I Lone Star Beer had a commercial 1:43:38.960 --> 1:43:43.679 and it was it was taken at the fairgrounds at 1:43:44.120 --> 1:43:46.400 where the Cotton Bowl is. And I saw where the 1:43:46.479 --> 1:43:49.799 hall these rides in the stadium, and I go, screw 1:43:49.920 --> 1:43:54.519 doing this at a at a racetrack. I want to 1:43:54.520 --> 1:43:59.080 do the Cotton Bowl. And so I convinced Crabs and 1:43:59.120 --> 1:44:04.000 that's when he met Aerosmith and Ted Nugent instead of 1:44:04.000 --> 1:44:08.200 playing a racetrack to go to the Cotton Bowl. And 1:44:08.240 --> 1:44:11.920 then we used entire fairgrounds. I mean it was We 1:44:11.960 --> 1:44:16.439 had a skateboard exhibit. We had the world's biggest rock 1:44:16.479 --> 1:44:20.240 and roll movie theater where we were showing concert films 1:44:20.280 --> 1:44:24.439 all day. We had the rock and roll Warehouse where 1:44:24.680 --> 1:44:28.000 Del Ferno, he was our merchant guy back then. He 1:44:28.160 --> 1:44:31.120 brought all his inventory so you could buy almost any 1:44:31.160 --> 1:44:34.439 T shirt you wanted there. And we would allow people 1:44:34.479 --> 1:44:36.800 to come in and out the stadium. And we had 1:44:37.200 --> 1:44:41.599 we had had we had second stages, third stages. It 1:44:41.640 --> 1:44:46.240 was quite the event, you know, And that's how the 1:44:46.360 --> 1:44:49.560 Texas Gym started. You know, even in New Orleans, I 1:44:50.640 --> 1:44:54.640 always loved the event. My first concert stadium concert was 1:44:54.680 --> 1:44:59.000 called the Bayou Boogey Festival. Black Oak, Arkansas was the headliner. 1:44:59.400 --> 1:45:03.839 I had Frampton, Peter Frampton on the show, Bob Sieger 1:45:03.960 --> 1:45:06.400 on the on the show, Wet Willy on the show. 1:45:06.920 --> 1:45:10.400 And this is when before Frampton came alive. Seegar was 1:45:10.479 --> 1:45:13.360 just starting out, and that was at City Park Stadium. 1:45:13.720 --> 1:45:17.440 And yeah, black O'cackansas, Jim Danny to the rescue. 1:45:17.840 --> 1:45:19.920 What was the name of the manager again. 1:45:20.640 --> 1:45:21.360 Butch Stone. 1:45:21.800 --> 1:45:27.479 Yeah, we'll leave it at that. So how are the 1:45:27.520 --> 1:45:29.360 economics at Texas Gym? 1:45:32.120 --> 1:45:34.120 They look good? I mean the first year I did, 1:45:34.160 --> 1:45:36.840 I had the Texas Gym one day and Willie's picking 1:45:37.040 --> 1:45:39.519 the next. I never made so much money in one 1:45:39.600 --> 1:45:41.880 day and I never lost so much money in one day, 1:45:42.240 --> 1:45:47.200 all within the twenty four hour time period. But overall 1:45:47.240 --> 1:45:50.680 it was good. I mean it's not. I mean, I mean, 1:45:50.760 --> 1:45:54.639 ticket prices were twelve dollars, you know, and I finally 1:45:54.680 --> 1:45:58.479 got up to twenty dollars. And I mean, if you 1:45:58.520 --> 1:46:05.719 look at today's you know, with the value of today's money, 1:46:05.760 --> 1:46:08.880 it was totally chump change back then. You know, if 1:46:08.920 --> 1:46:11.360 I made one hundred thousand dollars, I'd have sold eighty 1:46:11.439 --> 1:46:14.080 thousand people. I was a ton of money, you know, 1:46:14.439 --> 1:46:19.920 And but they were good. I just ran out of talent, 1:46:20.000 --> 1:46:23.240 you know, That's what happened. And it's just and I 1:46:23.400 --> 1:46:25.840 got in the amphitheater business, and you can make more 1:46:25.880 --> 1:46:29.160 money selling fifteen thousand tickets that I could sell in 1:46:29.200 --> 1:46:30.720 eighty thousand tickets. 1:46:31.160 --> 1:46:33.360 Why did the Fourth of July picnic fail? 1:46:35.080 --> 1:46:36.320 Not enough people showed up? 1:46:36.800 --> 1:46:40.639 Oh really? Why did why? You know that's a legend. 1:46:40.720 --> 1:46:43.920 I'm not that Texas savvy and he did it for years. 1:46:44.040 --> 1:46:46.120 Was that one of the initial ones? Or are they 1:46:46.160 --> 1:46:47.280 all challenging? 1:46:48.120 --> 1:46:51.280 But you know what, the Willie Picnics were all challenging, 1:46:51.320 --> 1:46:59.760 you know, Oh, mostly artistic successes, you know. Then there 1:46:59.800 --> 1:47:03.240 were financial successes because I did a couple of picnics 1:47:04.200 --> 1:47:07.120 outside of the Texas Jeff. It just didn't work. I 1:47:07.120 --> 1:47:10.160 mean it didn't work, that's all. I mean. I had 1:47:10.200 --> 1:47:16.640 like thirty thousand people there, and yeah, and I had everybody, 1:47:17.000 --> 1:47:21.760 Willie Whaling, Christofferson. I don't know, I'd go, I'll look 1:47:21.760 --> 1:47:25.959 at the poster outside, but it was the Star of Stars. 1:47:26.000 --> 1:47:30.479 You know, So what if one of these festivals, which 1:47:30.600 --> 1:47:33.720 pay more than anything, calls up and wants one of 1:47:33.720 --> 1:47:37.840 your racks to headline the festival, what do you say? 1:47:38.200 --> 1:47:42.400 How much? You know? I had George Straight headline ACL 1:47:42.560 --> 1:47:47.200 festival maybe four years ago. I was there and watching 1:47:48.120 --> 1:47:53.559 and Casey Musgraser was playing and I leaned over and 1:47:53.720 --> 1:47:55.800 I said, we need to have George Straight do this. 1:47:58.640 --> 1:48:01.439 And I told George about it. Don't forget I go, George, 1:48:01.520 --> 1:48:04.559 it'd be a really cool thing for you to do now. 1:48:04.960 --> 1:48:08.439 And George goes, you don't think I'm cool enough now? 1:48:09.640 --> 1:48:13.160 But and we took a haircut doing the show. I mean, 1:48:13.320 --> 1:48:15.760 you know, but I thought it was a cool thing 1:48:15.800 --> 1:48:18.800 for him to do. And he did it, and it 1:48:18.840 --> 1:48:21.799 was an ACL crowd. It wasn't a typical George Straight crowd. 1:48:22.280 --> 1:48:25.519 And everybody was singing every word to every song. It 1:48:25.600 --> 1:48:29.559 was amazing. I mean, just Charles A. Tall says still 1:48:29.880 --> 1:48:33.559 to this day, you know, probably the best headline he's 1:48:33.560 --> 1:48:34.040 ever had. 1:48:35.680 --> 1:48:42.240 Okay, Taylor Swift, they wanted to headline Coachella. You say, 1:48:42.880 --> 1:48:46.160 good luck, you know, I mean, why is there a 1:48:46.280 --> 1:48:47.959 number where you would say, yes. 1:48:49.000 --> 1:48:52.240 Here's the deal. If Taylor wants to play Coachella, she'll 1:48:52.240 --> 1:48:54.880 call me up and say, hey, what do you think 1:48:54.920 --> 1:48:58.479 about playing Coachella. She won't call me, but Robin will 1:48:58.479 --> 1:49:02.280 call me or Andrea call me and say, Taylor wants 1:49:02.320 --> 1:49:08.120 to do some festivals. No, there's no, there's no You 1:49:08.240 --> 1:49:12.600 have no idea. How what ridiculous offers I get for 1:49:12.760 --> 1:49:15.880 Taylor and for George and for all my artists. You know, 1:49:16.240 --> 1:49:18.360 but it's always got to be the right thing. You know. 1:49:18.920 --> 1:49:21.759 If Taylor wants to do a movie, you do a movie. 1:49:22.360 --> 1:49:26.440 You know. If she wants to play festivals, she'll play festivals. 1:49:26.520 --> 1:49:30.400 It's like, but you're not gonna Money's not going to 1:49:30.520 --> 1:49:31.960 drive her to make a decision. 1:49:33.200 --> 1:49:36.439 Okay, So let's say, since you've planned so far in advance, 1:49:36.479 --> 1:49:41.280 and you're in the career business, let's say hypothetically Taylor 1:49:41.400 --> 1:49:46.599 never had another radio hit, how do you, as a promoter, 1:49:47.640 --> 1:49:48.799 plan for the future. 1:49:51.760 --> 1:49:55.200 Taylor is only going to get bigger. I mean, even 1:49:55.240 --> 1:49:59.960 if she never has another hit, which is impossible because 1:50:00.080 --> 1:50:10.000 she always outdoes herself musically. I just know that where 1:50:10.040 --> 1:50:13.559 we're at now, is not the height of where she's 1:50:13.600 --> 1:50:15.439 going to be. That's all I know. 1:50:16.200 --> 1:50:19.160 Okay, Kenny used to have more radio singles than he 1:50:19.240 --> 1:50:22.080 does today. Has that affected his business? 1:50:23.000 --> 1:50:26.320 No, because people are there for Kenny now, you know. 1:50:27.040 --> 1:50:29.679 You know, they're there for the show. They know they're 1:50:29.680 --> 1:50:32.320 getting their money's worth, and we always, like I said, 1:50:32.360 --> 1:50:36.479 we always load up the show. So yeah, if he 1:50:36.760 --> 1:50:40.240 happens to have I mean, like when American Kids was 1:50:40.720 --> 1:50:44.880 you know, a number one song that there's definitely a bump, 1:50:44.960 --> 1:50:47.160 you know, but it's not a game changer. 1:50:48.439 --> 1:50:52.080 Okay, you mentioned David Krabs. We've mentioned some other managers. 1:50:52.560 --> 1:50:57.519 Let's be specific, John Land, Allen Springsteen. Okay, Springsteen hadn't 1:50:57.560 --> 1:51:00.800 toured for years, and that's really Land that was one 1:51:00.840 --> 1:51:05.880 big act and therefore he didn't know, in my viewpoint, 1:51:05.960 --> 1:51:08.360 the landscape as well as somebody who's in the business 1:51:08.400 --> 1:51:11.679 every day, whether it be a promoter or a lawyer 1:51:11.720 --> 1:51:16.400 who's making these deals. How savvy are the managers today? 1:51:17.840 --> 1:51:23.240 Well, the good managers are real savvy, you know. I mean, 1:51:24.760 --> 1:51:28.200 I'll start with thirteen. Management is there's no one manager 1:51:28.600 --> 1:51:33.160 because it's all tail is self managed. But there's basically 1:51:33.160 --> 1:51:36.320 a committee. I mean, Andrew being number two, then Rob It, 1:51:36.760 --> 1:51:42.519 you know, and so they're very savvy, you know, Stuart 1:51:42.600 --> 1:51:49.160 Kemp Edge manager, very savvy. The Lumineers manager, George really 1:51:49.200 --> 1:51:52.000 is self managed. You know, irvs's manager. They've been together 1:51:52.080 --> 1:51:57.760 forty years. But you know, you know, John Petz is 1:51:57.880 --> 1:52:03.000 very savvy. He's very creative with with Eric. Uh and 1:52:03.320 --> 1:52:06.639 I'm just looking around, you know. 1:52:07.320 --> 1:52:09.160 Okay, let me you know, these are all acts you 1:52:09.240 --> 1:52:14.400 work with. Do you find today's business is so complicated 1:52:14.439 --> 1:52:18.080 and changing so much that unless you're doing it every day, 1:52:18.720 --> 1:52:20.479 you don't have a good feel for it. 1:52:22.200 --> 1:52:24.240 But that makes a lot of sense. I mean, I 1:52:24.240 --> 1:52:28.400 think you need to be involved. But so that's a 1:52:28.400 --> 1:52:31.439 good question. I hate when people say it's a good question. 1:52:31.720 --> 1:52:37.280 Why would you ask a bad question? You know, because 1:52:37.360 --> 1:52:41.639 I'm not. I'm only focusing on the acts that I'm 1:52:41.680 --> 1:52:47.880 focusing on. It's like, you know, so I'm not like 1:52:47.960 --> 1:52:51.640 paying attention and going to concerts everywhere or going to 1:52:51.680 --> 1:52:55.320 clubs and stuff like shit out of the blue, Zach 1:52:55.360 --> 1:52:57.599 Bryant popped up. I'm going, what the hell did this 1:52:57.640 --> 1:53:01.240 come from? You know? I mean, and but you know, 1:53:01.320 --> 1:53:04.160 my younger staff goes, oh yeah, man, he's amazing, you know. 1:53:04.800 --> 1:53:09.480 And my daughter, my fourteen year old song came on 1:53:09.479 --> 1:53:12.080 on her playlist. I go, who is this? She goes 1:53:12.240 --> 1:53:15.200 Zach Brian. I go, holy crap, this is really good. 1:53:15.960 --> 1:53:18.599 You know, this is like amazing. I mean, I haven't 1:53:18.640 --> 1:53:25.599 heard of the guy before. So business savvy, I don't know. Yeah, 1:53:25.680 --> 1:53:27.200 you've got to be in the business. You got to 1:53:27.240 --> 1:53:29.519 be in the business. But as far as me grinding 1:53:29.560 --> 1:53:31.719 out the way I used to, as far as listening 1:53:31.800 --> 1:53:34.000 to every new song, you know, every time a new 1:53:34.040 --> 1:53:36.439 album anybody would come out, I have to put it 1:53:36.479 --> 1:53:38.960 on or go to a club and watch him. I 1:53:38.960 --> 1:53:41.799 don't do that anymore. I go watch opening acts. 1:53:43.280 --> 1:53:47.680 Okay, in the old days, forget you know, Frank Barcelona 1:53:47.760 --> 1:53:51.320 and Loyalty. In any event, you worked your way up. 1:53:51.720 --> 1:53:55.080 No one started at the top. Seam Smith had a hit. 1:53:55.600 --> 1:54:00.000 First tour was Arenas. Okay, Zach Bryan's going to be 1:54:00.080 --> 1:54:02.719 playing stadium soon. Although we paid a few dues along 1:54:02.720 --> 1:54:05.599 the way. You're in control of one of these acts. 1:54:05.800 --> 1:54:08.439 What do you say, go for the money or is 1:54:08.479 --> 1:54:09.880 this going to hurt you in the long run. 1:54:12.040 --> 1:54:14.360 I always say do what you're supposed to do. The 1:54:14.400 --> 1:54:18.400 money will always be there, you know. We know. I 1:54:18.520 --> 1:54:23.200 try to convince everybody, never go for the money to 1:54:23.400 --> 1:54:28.240 do the right thing, you know, That's what you know. 1:54:28.320 --> 1:54:33.680 Sometimes I'm wrong, but I never chase the money, and 1:54:33.920 --> 1:54:36.360 I you know, because the money will be there. 1:54:37.440 --> 1:54:42.760 And if you're deciding where to play, do you say, well, listen, 1:54:42.800 --> 1:54:45.200 I want to play this building because I'll go clean 1:54:45.240 --> 1:54:47.920 and it's a good look as opposed to another building 1:54:47.920 --> 1:54:50.720 which may not sell out. How important are the optics 1:54:50.760 --> 1:54:56.280 to you, I. 1:54:56.360 --> 1:55:01.440 Think is you know you're going to play the right 1:55:01.480 --> 1:55:06.160 act in the right building for the right ticket price. 1:55:08.240 --> 1:55:12.080 A lot of times it's a jump ball where if 1:55:12.160 --> 1:55:14.120 I'm going to get a better deal for the act 1:55:14.280 --> 1:55:18.320 at somewhere else, then that's that's where I'm going to go, 1:55:19.040 --> 1:55:23.160 you know. And and you know, but I'm not going 1:55:23.200 --> 1:55:25.560 to put an act in a stadium unless I believe 1:55:25.600 --> 1:55:27.720 they could sell it. I'm not going to put an 1:55:27.760 --> 1:55:30.480 act in an arena unless they think I think they 1:55:30.520 --> 1:55:33.640 could sell it out, you know, or come close to it. 1:55:34.960 --> 1:55:37.560 So it's a matter of knowing who your artist is 1:55:37.880 --> 1:55:43.640 and and with the right steps to take. Sometimes I'm wrong, 1:55:44.600 --> 1:55:47.320 you know, But most of the times I'm right, and 1:55:47.360 --> 1:55:47.880 they're right. 1:55:48.360 --> 1:55:50.680 Tell me two mistakes you made in the last year. 1:55:58.240 --> 1:56:01.280 I don't know. Last year was it was almost like 1:56:01.280 --> 1:56:02.360 a perfect strong for me. 1:56:03.800 --> 1:56:06.320 Tell me two big mistakes you made in your career. 1:56:09.280 --> 1:56:18.800 Man, I made a lot of mistakes. You know. That's 1:56:18.800 --> 1:56:20.960 the time. I can't you put me on the spot. 1:56:21.160 --> 1:56:24.160 I don't know, you know, I really don't know. Don't 1:56:24.200 --> 1:56:29.320 know what mistakes? What big mistakes? I mean, I never 1:56:29.360 --> 1:56:33.600 made a mistake that was so that was so bad 1:56:33.880 --> 1:56:40.120 that what was I thinking? You know, I did some 1:56:41.200 --> 1:56:44.000 I don't know. I don't know. I can't answer the question. Sorry, 1:56:44.080 --> 1:56:48.240 I mean, I don't know. Drank too much. 1:56:48.920 --> 1:56:53.040 What's your philosophy on money? I'll give you an analogy. 1:56:53.640 --> 1:56:56.160 In the old days, everybody used to pay agents ten. 1:56:57.240 --> 1:57:01.320 Now that's negotiable, so you're making to deal with somebody 1:57:01.360 --> 1:57:03.240 in general. I know you have these acts you work 1:57:03.280 --> 1:57:06.880 with a long time. To what degree are you firm 1:57:06.920 --> 1:57:09.040 on the money. What's your negotiating style? 1:57:10.920 --> 1:57:18.080 Oh, believe in yourself and you'll make more money. And 1:57:19.880 --> 1:57:23.880 it's so funny because none of my acts that I 1:57:24.000 --> 1:57:29.040 work for are charging me guarantees, you know, but they're 1:57:29.040 --> 1:57:33.760 getting the line share of everything. Where they see every penny. 1:57:35.280 --> 1:57:37.520 It's not that I won't pay a guarantee. It's just 1:57:37.520 --> 1:57:42.840 that I will advance autist money, you know. But I'm 1:57:43.080 --> 1:57:46.280 you know, I'm not going to. I'm not going to. 1:57:48.160 --> 1:57:51.360 But everyone feels everyone, like I said, that's on themselves 1:57:51.720 --> 1:57:56.080 and they see every dollar that they see that piece 1:57:56.120 --> 1:58:00.960 of every dollar. And that's that's my philosophy, you know, transparency. 1:58:02.000 --> 1:58:03.600 Well, you've been doing this a long time and a 1:58:03.600 --> 1:58:06.640 lot of different capacities. There's an old line there are 1:58:06.680 --> 1:58:11.840 no no bad shows, only bad deals, right, So what's 1:58:11.880 --> 1:58:14.680 your philosophy on deals in general? In terms of your 1:58:14.720 --> 1:58:15.680 fifty year career. 1:58:16.800 --> 1:58:19.120 I'm not going to buy my way into a relationship. 1:58:19.880 --> 1:58:23.720 I think it's total bs. You know, when you know, 1:58:23.840 --> 1:58:27.640 when you the autists don't even know who they're working for. 1:58:27.720 --> 1:58:32.640 They're just taking the deal and then they regret it after, 1:58:33.000 --> 1:58:37.840 you know, And I'm not gonna I'm not going to 1:58:37.960 --> 1:58:41.360 chase an act with money that won't happen. So that's 1:58:41.640 --> 1:58:44.600 that's how I operate. I mean, I don't I'm in 1:58:44.640 --> 1:58:46.960 my own lane. I'm not in the ag lane. I'm 1:58:46.960 --> 1:58:49.200 not in a live nation in that lane, you know, 1:58:49.280 --> 1:58:53.280 I don't go after their acts, and most of the 1:58:53.280 --> 1:58:55.080 time they don't go after my acts. Every once in 1:58:55.120 --> 1:58:58.600 a while, you know, one of their promoters get greedy, 1:58:59.000 --> 1:59:01.840 and then I have to, you know, I have to. 1:59:02.040 --> 1:59:04.240 I have to, I have to get a little New 1:59:04.320 --> 1:59:05.040 Orleans on them. 1:59:07.040 --> 1:59:12.440 Okay, the landscape today is totally different. As I'm referenced earlier, 1:59:12.520 --> 1:59:16.839 the acts tend to be built by record companies. In radio, 1:59:17.920 --> 1:59:21.040 there's a lot of acts can tour that are not 1:59:21.120 --> 1:59:23.840 on the radio, don't even have record companies. By the 1:59:23.880 --> 1:59:28.720 same token record companies, the three majors have almost an 1:59:28.760 --> 1:59:32.840 impossible time breaking new acts. So where's it going? 1:59:34.720 --> 1:59:37.160 Well, this new acts breaking every day, you know, so 1:59:37.200 --> 1:59:39.680 maybe the record companies need to get in with the 1:59:39.720 --> 1:59:42.800 program instead of trying to control their acts, trying to 1:59:42.840 --> 1:59:46.800 figure out different ways how to promote their acts, instead 1:59:46.840 --> 1:59:49.680 of you know, the same thing, instead of a cooking 1:59:49.760 --> 1:59:52.520 cutter thing where they find an act, they find a 1:59:52.520 --> 1:59:55.320 hot act and then they go all in for it. 1:59:56.080 --> 1:59:59.920 And you know, but if you don't make the great 2:00:00.000 --> 2:00:02.160 eight out of the box, you're not going to get 2:00:02.160 --> 2:00:05.920 any interest. You know, my son's band was signed to 2:00:06.000 --> 2:00:13.160 a major record label, right and they did nothing. So 2:00:13.600 --> 2:00:16.240 I mean, you know, they did nothing. I you know, 2:00:16.600 --> 2:00:19.800 I was out there getting radio stations to come, shows 2:00:19.800 --> 2:00:22.000 to come, I was getting the taste makers to come 2:00:22.040 --> 2:00:24.040 to shows, but the band didn't go anywhere. You know, 2:00:24.120 --> 2:00:26.920 two albums on a major label. I don't think they 2:00:27.000 --> 2:00:32.240 pay enough attention to the artist and they're kind of 2:00:32.280 --> 2:00:38.200 like whatever sticks is who they're going after. So I 2:00:38.240 --> 2:00:43.360 think if they signed less bands, and if they sign 2:00:43.400 --> 2:00:46.640 a band, they need they have to believe they could 2:00:46.640 --> 2:00:48.600 take it all the way to the top, and they 2:00:48.640 --> 2:00:51.600 need to get involved and not just hiring somebody just 2:00:52.080 --> 2:00:57.480 and do generics posts. You know, Hi Denver, how are 2:00:57.520 --> 2:01:04.080 you you know from autist X where they they are 2:01:04.120 --> 2:01:09.480 engaging with the artist audience and not controlling what the 2:01:09.520 --> 2:01:12.760 audience is having, what the artist is having to say. 2:01:13.120 --> 2:01:15.280 I think they just need to be in tune to 2:01:15.360 --> 2:01:18.160 what's happening in the same way I need to be 2:01:18.240 --> 2:01:21.080 in tune to what's happening. That's why I have such 2:01:21.080 --> 2:01:24.960 a young staff and I grow my digital department every day. 2:01:25.720 --> 2:01:27.800 I think that's what record companies need to do, or 2:01:27.800 --> 2:01:30.520 any kind of companies. Yeah, you've got to get to 2:01:30.560 --> 2:01:31.800 the people you. 2:01:31.840 --> 2:01:34.440 Came up with what would be called a social media 2:01:34.560 --> 2:01:38.080 post showing a certain amount of savviness. But to what 2:01:38.240 --> 2:01:42.360 degree do you personally look at social media, whether it 2:01:42.440 --> 2:01:46.680 be Facebook, Instagram, TikTok? And to what degree are you 2:01:46.840 --> 2:01:51.680 personally computer savvy? 2:01:52.600 --> 2:01:56.800 On computers savvy to a certain degree. But I don't 2:01:56.840 --> 2:02:00.800 live on the computer, you know, I'm just doing emails. 2:02:00.840 --> 2:02:05.360 And so I'll just go to to my team and say, okay, 2:02:05.640 --> 2:02:07.680 tell me about the growth of this act, you know, 2:02:07.760 --> 2:02:10.200 tell me where they were five years ago. Tell me 2:02:10.200 --> 2:02:12.800 what their socials look like. Tell me what their audience 2:02:12.800 --> 2:02:16.720 looks like, you know, break down the demographics. And that's 2:02:16.760 --> 2:02:20.960 that's how I'm computerist. I always say I know where 2:02:21.000 --> 2:02:22.520 I want to go, but I don't know how to 2:02:22.520 --> 2:02:26.840 get there. And that's why I have the people that 2:02:26.920 --> 2:02:30.360 I have working with me, because I know what I 2:02:30.480 --> 2:02:33.160 want to do, but I just not savvy enough to 2:02:33.200 --> 2:02:36.160 do it. That's why I hire people that is much 2:02:36.200 --> 2:02:38.800 smarter than me to get it done instead of me 2:02:38.920 --> 2:02:42.600 doing a half assed job of it. You know, I 2:02:42.640 --> 2:02:45.600 rely upon them to feed me with knowledge. I ask 2:02:45.720 --> 2:02:46.879 good questions, though. 2:02:48.120 --> 2:02:51.160 What's more important? Data or gut instinct? 2:02:52.400 --> 2:02:56.480 Combination of both? I mean data. Sometimes you know, you 2:02:56.560 --> 2:03:00.000 got you have people that have you know, ten minutes 2:03:00.320 --> 2:03:03.520 followers but can't sell out you know, my car and 2:03:04.760 --> 2:03:07.520 you know you you know, sometimes you just have to 2:03:07.560 --> 2:03:09.880 feel it, you know, you just have to feel it 2:03:09.960 --> 2:03:15.800 like this is going to happen. And I think you 2:03:15.840 --> 2:03:19.440 need a combination of both. The you need to know, 2:03:20.760 --> 2:03:22.960 you have to have a feel for the audience. You 2:03:23.000 --> 2:03:25.000 have to have a feel for the music. You have 2:03:25.040 --> 2:03:27.600 to have a feel for the connection. But you also 2:03:27.720 --> 2:03:31.160 have to have the savvy to knowing how to get 2:03:31.200 --> 2:03:34.880 to the audience and knowing how to send the right 2:03:34.880 --> 2:03:38.720 message to the audience and and to connect the artists 2:03:38.760 --> 2:03:44.400 and the audience. And and sometimes the artists don't even themselves, 2:03:44.440 --> 2:03:50.200 don't have enough belief in themselves, where you have to 2:03:50.560 --> 2:03:52.600 kind of give you know, you have to you have 2:03:52.720 --> 2:03:58.680 to give them your enthusiasm. And that's kind of what 2:03:58.840 --> 2:04:01.720 I do, you know, like I'm a tap dancer, you know, 2:04:02.000 --> 2:04:05.200 like I put I'm mister bo Jangles, you know, And 2:04:06.840 --> 2:04:09.680 just you got to have both. You've got to have 2:04:09.720 --> 2:04:12.800 a great team around you that is savvy and every 2:04:12.840 --> 2:04:15.280 which way, but you've got to have a gut feeling. 2:04:15.320 --> 2:04:18.720 And I think that's what has been the key to 2:04:18.840 --> 2:04:22.920 my success is that I have a great feeling I 2:04:22.920 --> 2:04:26.920 could see town, you know, I feel I could see 2:04:26.920 --> 2:04:30.560 where there's that connection between the artis and audience that 2:04:30.600 --> 2:04:32.080 I think that's my biggest gift. 2:04:33.600 --> 2:04:36.000 And what would you say to young people wanted to 2:04:36.000 --> 2:04:37.760 get into this business? 2:04:39.680 --> 2:04:44.880 Uh, dive in man, you know, follow your dreams. You know. 2:04:44.920 --> 2:04:48.920 I do a class every semester at ut and and 2:04:49.120 --> 2:04:52.200 you know it's always like forty to fifty students in 2:04:52.240 --> 2:04:55.560 my class. And uh, it's just just called the you know, 2:04:56.080 --> 2:04:58.040 the making of a concert where I kind of go 2:04:58.120 --> 2:05:00.600 through the whole steps from signing the and all the 2:05:00.640 --> 2:05:04.760 way through load out. And I always encourage people to 2:05:04.800 --> 2:05:09.120 follow their dreams. And I'm not going to say, oh, 2:05:09.320 --> 2:05:11.640 you know, it's such a shitty business. It's not a 2:05:11.680 --> 2:05:16.560 shitty business, you know, if you have the drive. I mean, yeah, 2:05:16.600 --> 2:05:18.720 it was a shitty business when I started because I 2:05:18.720 --> 2:05:20.800 didn't know what the hell I was doing. But I 2:05:20.880 --> 2:05:23.800 kept on asking why why, why? Why? Why do you 2:05:23.840 --> 2:05:26.320 do this? Why do you do that? And I always say, 2:05:26.560 --> 2:05:28.840 don't have a tate no for an answer. On the 2:05:28.880 --> 2:05:32.960 third note, it's a maybe, you know, just keep on 2:05:33.080 --> 2:05:37.080 moving forward, keep on moving forward. So yeah, I would 2:05:37.160 --> 2:05:41.680 encourage people. I encourage my kids, you know, to go 2:05:41.800 --> 2:05:44.520 for it. You know, my daughter wants to go into film, 2:05:44.520 --> 2:05:48.160 I go for it. You know my other my fourteen 2:05:48.240 --> 2:05:50.760 year old daughter, want to You know, she's got an 2:05:50.880 --> 2:05:54.920 incredible voice, she's got such charisma, but I don't think 2:05:54.920 --> 2:05:58.240 she has the drive. But I encourage you every day. 2:05:58.280 --> 2:06:02.040 And last night eleven o'clock I heard her playing piano 2:06:02.640 --> 2:06:06.960 and and so that was pretty cool because that day 2:06:07.000 --> 2:06:10.480 I go, why'd you stop playing piano? And because I 2:06:10.480 --> 2:06:13.640 don't know? And then last night I was in bed 2:06:13.960 --> 2:06:15.960 I could hear her play, and then it was pretty cool. 2:06:16.600 --> 2:06:20.320 So I'm always encouraging people to follow their dreams. 2:06:21.120 --> 2:06:22.640 So how much longer are you going to do this? 2:06:22.680 --> 2:06:24.480 You're going to do this till you drop, or you're 2:06:24.520 --> 2:06:25.720 going to retire at some point. 2:06:26.640 --> 2:06:32.600 Probably do it till I drop. Uh Uh. I love 2:06:32.640 --> 2:06:34.520 what I do. I still love what I do. You know, 2:06:35.920 --> 2:06:38.120 why would I do? I can only pull up so 2:06:38.120 --> 2:06:42.320 many cedar trees, you know, And and I really love 2:06:42.400 --> 2:06:46.520 what I do, And I don't know, I wouldn't know 2:06:46.520 --> 2:06:49.200 what else to do. I mean, he has to sit 2:06:49.240 --> 2:06:52.640 at home, and you know, I'm not going to write 2:06:52.680 --> 2:06:57.400 a book. I'm not gonna you know, I've traveled. I've 2:06:57.440 --> 2:06:59.480 traveled my whole life, and so it's not like I 2:06:59.520 --> 2:07:05.800 want to try, you know, And I don't know. I guess. 2:07:06.320 --> 2:07:09.280 I used to say, when George retires, Our retired, when 2:07:09.360 --> 2:07:13.280 Kenny retires, Our retire, when Taylor retires, I'll be dead. 2:07:15.320 --> 2:07:19.920 And that's basically it, you know me. But when I 2:07:20.000 --> 2:07:24.720 signed a new van and see them go to the top, 2:07:25.400 --> 2:07:29.280 I just love it. When I have George Strait thirty 2:07:29.360 --> 2:07:31.240 years is still at the top of it. When we 2:07:31.280 --> 2:07:35.680 set a tent, we set gross records everywhere we played. 2:07:36.080 --> 2:07:40.960 I mean somebody sent me somewhere all highest gross. Number 2:07:41.000 --> 2:07:43.800 one was George Straight, Number two was George Straight, number 2:07:43.840 --> 2:07:47.960 three and four would Beyonce. I don't know what publication 2:07:48.080 --> 2:07:49.640 that was, but somebody sent it to me and went, 2:07:49.640 --> 2:07:53.840 holy shit, and that's pretty cool. And every night, you know, 2:07:54.080 --> 2:07:57.840 where single night attendance record ed was breaking every night, 2:07:58.320 --> 2:08:02.640 And what Taylor has done, it's like mind blow. I mean, 2:08:02.680 --> 2:08:06.839 I'm part of history. I'm living in history with Taylor, 2:08:07.400 --> 2:08:11.080 you know. And shit, after fifty one years of the 2:08:11.120 --> 2:08:13.800 business and still having a hand as hot as I 2:08:13.920 --> 2:08:17.000 have and still have artists and still have you know, 2:08:18.240 --> 2:08:22.840 a brain, and I'm pretty lucky, and why would I 2:08:22.880 --> 2:08:24.560 want to give it up? I don't. 2:08:26.400 --> 2:08:29.640 Okay. You say you're in the business and making dreams 2:08:29.680 --> 2:08:35.160 come true. You say to the artist, what is your dream? So, Louis, 2:08:35.200 --> 2:08:38.320 what is your dream beyond what you've already accomplished. 2:08:39.720 --> 2:08:44.000 I don't know, Find the next artists, bring them to 2:08:44.040 --> 2:08:51.080 the stadiums, you know, and just see my team grow, 2:08:51.560 --> 2:08:56.720 my kids grow up, but seeing the younger people of 2:08:56.840 --> 2:09:02.320 superstars on my team grow, you know, my son Lewis 2:09:02.400 --> 2:09:08.200 and Haley McCollister and you know, Sarah Winter, and just 2:09:08.240 --> 2:09:12.480 see them becoming stars. That's that's my dream, you know. 2:09:13.360 --> 2:09:15.880 That's what I want to do. As far as watching 2:09:15.920 --> 2:09:18.000 the growth of my family and watching the growth of 2:09:18.040 --> 2:09:21.680 the individuals here, that's what I like to do. That's 2:09:21.680 --> 2:09:24.200 what I want to do. You know, I don't want 2:09:24.240 --> 2:09:27.160 to you know, people say, oh, Louis, if you drop dead, 2:09:27.240 --> 2:09:31.040 you have no company. That's bs you know, I mean 2:09:32.800 --> 2:09:37.000 Taylor because of Mike Dugan, because of Sarah, because of Haley, 2:09:37.360 --> 2:09:40.880 you know, Illumineers because of Haley and my niece Margo, 2:09:41.080 --> 2:09:43.840 you know, and Kenny Chesney is because of Rome and 2:09:43.920 --> 2:09:47.560 Kate McMahon. You know it's not yeah me, I am, 2:09:47.880 --> 2:09:50.760 you know the song and dance man, but you know 2:09:51.800 --> 2:09:54.800 they're the people. They're the mechanics that just get the 2:09:54.880 --> 2:09:58.480 job done. But I'm making them song and dance I'm 2:09:58.480 --> 2:10:00.200 making a lot of them song and dance men too. 2:10:03.520 --> 2:10:05.880 Okay, Louis, I want to thank you so much for 2:10:05.960 --> 2:10:10.320 taking this time to talk and educate my Owdens. Really 2:10:10.360 --> 2:10:14.720 been great, always hilarious talking to you so insightful. Thanks 2:10:14.760 --> 2:10:15.160 so much. 2:10:15.560 --> 2:10:18.360 All right, thank you, my man, Bye bye. 2:10:18.320 --> 2:10:21.160 Until next time. This is Bob Left sets