PNC Arena, Raleigh, N.C., has experienced several cancellations in protest of North Carolina's HB2 bill.
Dave Olsen and Larry Perkins, PNC Arena, Raleigh, N.C., were not setting up for Pearl Jam today as scheduled. They were issuing refunds after the band canceled its performance in protest of the April passage of House Bill 2 by the North Carolina legislature, a bill that limits antidiscrimination protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) citizens in that state.
“We’re disappointed shows have pulled out of the state,” Olsen said, “but we’re not taking positions. We’ve been asked not to.”
Olsen had also been notified by Cirque du Soleil that their June 15 performance was canceled.
The first boycott cancellation was Bruce Springsteen at the Greensboro (N.C.) Coliseum. Boston and Ringo Starr have joined the list since.
In the convention and meetings world, the impact has been just as devastating for venues. April has been full of cancellation notices from events of various sizes.
The last time the industry experienced this kind of business interruption was the boycott of Arizona venues as a result of the immigration laws, known as SB 1070, in that state. The Phoenix Convention Center lost four major groups in 2010, but business had bounced back by July, following legal challenges to the law.
Similarly, there are legal challenges now in North Carolina.
Steve Adelman, lawyer to the industry, said legally, these cancellations are a contract and insurance issue. Basically, it's a breach of contract and artists like Bruce Springsteen and Pearl Jam can handle the financial consequences.
He is from Arizona and has seen it before, but "our politics are different than the sound. We do Goldwater conservatism, which is much more libertarian. We don't care about bathrooms." He referred to the aspect of the North Carolina law that requires people to use the bathroom for the gender to which they were born. "Immigration is a real thing; transgernder bathrooms is real politics."
That said, he declared himself personally in favor of these boycotts. "I think the artists are right. It's one of the ways artists can be heard in meaningful ways. It's a way to change people's minds. But legislators will do what legislators will do. I have no idea if they care if Bruce Springsteen plays North Carolina. They may think he's a liberal heathen with New York values."
But there is no legal issue here, he said. "It's a standard cancellation."
Olsen noted Pearl Jam is a Live Nation show and the venue had no hard expenses, no exposure, no out of pocket loss of revenue. But it’s “a tough way to do business. In my 30 years managing venues, I never experienced anything similar.” On the good side businesswise, this is the arena’s summer season, usually slow for concerts, though one is scheduled for August and one in September that are still on sale.
Mississippi and Georgia have similar laws and are starting to see some protests, he said. Those laws are made at the state level. Venue managers can only sit back and see what happens. Pearl Jam was close to sold out, he added.
Live Nation, promoter of several of those concerts that have canceled, including Pearl Jam, issued this statement: “Some of Live Nation’s artists have decided to cancel shows in North Carolina and Mississippi in light of their opposition to the discriminatory laws recently passed in the states. Live Nation supports our artists’ efforts to take a stand against these exclusionary and unfair laws.”
Live Nation concerts that have been canceled include Pearl Jam in Raleigh, Charlotte and Greensboro and two shows by Boston
Vendini ticketing pulled its users conference out of Charlotte, N.C., with founder and CEO Mark Tacchi posting an April 1 statement that it was in direct response to the anti-LGBT discrimination law.
“I joined this conversation because we were planning to hold our fourth annual Vendini Member Conference (a two-day event where we host panels, speakers, one-on-one sessions and best practice sharing on all things ticketing and live entertainment events) in Charlotte, NC,” Tacchi wrote. “Vendini does not agree with discrimination in any form (including legalized discrimination), and it is important to me that our actions demonstrate that.” The host venue was to have been Central Piedmont Community College, which Tacchi said has been “incredibly hospitable and understanding of this situation. The city itself has been an advocate for LGBT rights over the years. Despite this, we are no longer comfortable hosting the conference in the state of North Carolina.”
Vendini is now looking for a new host venue in the San Francisco Bay area for the September event.
In Arizona in 2010, a nonprofit Sound Strike coalition organized the boycott of shows from signees including Cypress Hill, Juanes, Kanye West, Rage Against the Machine, Nine Inch Nails, Chris Rock and Maroon 5, as reported in Venues Today that year.
As reported in 2010, the venues have little power in this play. “We’re hurting. I can’t say right now that it’s fatal, but we’re struggling and we’re doing everything we can to keep going,” said Curtis McCrary, general manager of Tucson’s 1,450-capacity nonprofit Rialto Theater, which took a major hit in 2010 when perennially popular Hispanic-American rap group Cypress Hill canceled a solidly-selling May 21 show two weeks before they were to take the stage.
The artists’ aim then was to convince the state to repeal state law SB 1070 by pledging not to perform in Arizona until the measure is reversed. Subsequent court challenges greatly reduced the bill’s impact.
Arizona has a history of controversial laws that have affected live entertainment. The National Football League pulled the 1993 Super Bowl out of Arizona when then-Governor Evan Meacham refused to recognize the national Martin Luther King Day holiday. When Arizona residents voted to recognize the holiday, the Super Bowl returned in 1996 to Tempe.
Today, the National Basketball Association is having some serious talks with Time Warner Cable Arena, Charlotte, N.C., about the 2017 All-Star Game, but it’s still on for now. Will history repeat itself?
The venue industry deals with cancellations all the time, but this leaves a sort of hopeless feeling. “I just hope it will be over soon,” said Larry Perkins, assistant director at PNC Arena.
Interviewed for this story: Carrie Davis of Live Nation, (310) 975-6941; Dave Olsen, (919) 861-6173; Larry Perkins, (919) 861-5466; Steve Adelman, (480) 209-2426