Canceling a show, or “pulling the plug,” is the concert equivalent of the triple-dog-dare in the playground. Often used as a threat to coerce payment from promoters, the threat of cancellation, especially with the audience in place, is the trump card, and is never played lightly. Pulling the plug is a no-win proposition with a set of expensive downsides, including the refund of thousands of tickets and the real risk of crowd insurgence. For good reason, it’s a last resort that has to hold up to an intense post-mortem from the many aggrieved parties. With so many stakeholders, who has the ultimate power to determine that conditions, typically of weather, warrant the cancellation of an event? This decision will stop the revenue stream without stopping the expense stream. This is the moment in the seminar when all insurance agents in the audience sit up and pay close attention. They have now become the income stream. As showtime approaches, the storm clouds building on the horizon are nothing compared to the storm brewing in the production trailer. Will the band, the promoter, the engineers, local police and fire marshals sit down like grown- ups to make good decisions, or will panic set in? With his newly-formed Event Safety Alliance, John Brown [of Brown United, who moderated the seminar, The 10 Commandments of Live Event Safety and Pollstar Live] wants to make a dress rehearsal for this type of scenario as commonplace as a sound check.
—PLSN, March 2012, News Feature by Marshall Bissett, page 18
