The resort partners and concert promoters giveth, the resort partners and concert promoters taketh away.
I have no idea what logistical issues prompted organizers to cancel the Kiss concert scheduled for Sept. 15, and I really don’t care. Neither would any Kiss fans or hardcore members of the Kiss Army that reportedly booked trips from across North America to partake in what would have been the biggest concert ever to grace this resort. But instead of getting Demon, Star Child, Space Man and Cat Man, strutting around the stage in black leathers and facepaint, all we get are more excuses as to why yet another event has fallen through.
If I owned one of Whistler’s cabarets I’d be doing my best right now to book the nearest Kiss cover band for next weekend, if only to ease this feeling of being cheated.
Never mind that two other concerts, scheduled for Sept. 22 and 29, have also been cancelled (probably), even if they were supposed to be bigger acts than Kiss. We didn’t know who to expect, and therefore can’t be all that disappointed that they aren’t going to show.
What in the name of (Peter) Criss is going on?
Last year a Xavier Rudd concert in the conference centre was cancelled because the band promoters did not want to pay a $25,000 damage deposit to use the venue — something that is apparently unique to Whistler.
This spring we were informed that the theatre in the park project was cancelled due to a lack of sponsorship — when it was already too late to find the last minute sponsorship to keep it alive.
Partnerships with concert promoters like Shoreline that were expected to bring a lot of big name acts to town have so far failed to bring anyone or anything.
While all of these promised attractions have fallen through for completely different reasons, taken together they suggest that something is not working in Whistler when it comes to hosting major events — not an easy thing to consider in Whistler with the Olympics just two and a half years away.
Events Whistler, which was created to help facilitate things like Kiss concerts, hired Greg Albrecht in 2006 to act as the point man between event organizers and the trinity of Whistler-Blackcomb, Tourism Whistler and the Resort Municipality of Whistler. He had impeccable credentials coming into the position, having organized several Grey Cups as well as the Arts Country Fair concerts at UBC, but his contract was not renewed this spring. No reason was given, and he was not replaced.
Events Whistler still exists, with representatives from the municipality, Whistler-Blackcomb and Tourism Whistler meeting on a regular basis, but it has no paid employee, no office, no website, and no way of promoting itself to would-be event promoters that wish to bring events to the community. Events Whistler did a great job organizing Crankworx this year, but that’s an event that already exists, that is already a success, and that has strong corporate backing — including Kokanee as a headline sponsor.
Events Whistler partners are also involved in producing events like the Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival and Whistler International Film Festival, but both events stand on their own merits and have benefited from the work of private event organizers in past years.
I get it — concerts are tough to organize and there are a lot of things that can go wrong. I missed my chance to see Guns ’n’ Roses in 1992 when James Hetfield of Metallica was burned during a concert in Montreal because I was out of town for the makeup date. Recently I bought tickets to see The Cure at GM Place, only to have that show delayed from October to next spring so the band has more time practicing songs off their upcoming double album.
Of course there are going to be logistical problems when you try to host an outdoor concert on the side of a mountain, or using a new ticketing service for the first time. Maybe we should have hosted a test event or two at the venue before booking one of the biggest acts in the world.
I think by now resort partners have realized that hosting events is a multi-million dollar business — just look at the room numbers from Cornucopia, Crankworx, the Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival, the Whistler International Film Festival, and even special one-time events like the Faith Hill Concert. After all, that’s why we’re hosting the Olympics and Paralympics, and all those test events leading up to the Games.
But if events are so good for our core business, why do we still have so much trouble hosting them? Why did the organizers of the gay ski week have to fight the municipality every single year to have their liquor license extended for their all-night party? Why did the 24 Hours of Adrenaline Race series move on from one of the biggest mountain bike towns in the world?
If Whistler is serious about hosting events, then we actually have to get serious about hosting events. Events Whistler may be the best vehicle we have to do that, but right now it’s unfunded, unstaffed, poorly defined in terms of its mandate, passive, and seems to exist almost as an afterthought. You would think the millions of dollars that events bring in would justify some investment in hosting events. And you’d be wrong.
May the Kiss Army have mercy on us.
