ST. LOUIS (AP) - St. Louis may soon host big-time music festivals on both the Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends.
An aldermanic committee on Thursday will consider a bill giving Summer Rocks LLC exclusive access for 20 years to parts of the downtown Gateway Mall, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported (https://bit.ly/1i8sZcx ).
Summer Rocks is owned by the Los Angeles talent agency ICM Partners, which arranges talent for events including the Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza music festivals.
City leaders said the St. Louis events would be on that same scale. ICM’s local contact, Stephen Stogel, said the Memorial Day show would feature country music and the Labor Day event would feature rock. He declined to list performers until agreements are reached.
The events would begin in 2015.
The music events could provide a boost to downtown St. Louis. Bonnaroo has provided a huge economic benefit to the rural area of Coffee County, Tenn.
Under the agreement, Summer Rocks would pay the city $400,000 for city services provided to each festival. The company also would pay fees from tickets sold the first 10 years. The city projects receiving as much as $1.5 million per festival from the fees.
The aldermanic Convention, Tourism, Arts & Humanities committee will take up the measure Thursday. If it passes, it will go to the entire Board of Aldermen.
Some question whether the bill would grant the company too much control and push out other long-standing events, citing a clause preventing St. Louis from allowing competing for-profit music events “substantially similar to a festival” in the city on those dates. LouFest is typically held around Labor Day. It is Sept. 6-7 this year.
“The main thing is the non-compete clause needs to be substantially changed or removed,” tweeted Alderman Scott Ogilvie.
Rainford said the new festivals would affect only “somebody who wants to start a Lollapalooza,” a reference to the popular alternative rock festival.
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Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, https://www.stltoday.com
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