Features
Livestock Postponed
This year’s Livestock Festival in Tampa Bay, Fla., has been postponed until promoters can come to an agreement with the local sheriff’s office.
“We’re postponing it, not canceling it,” Mike Oliviero, director of marketing and promotions for Clear Channel Radio Tampa Bay, told Pollstar. “It was never announced to begin with.
“Until we can come to an agreement with the authorities up there, we cannot schedule the show because it puts our listeners and concert-goers in too much … not harm’s way, but to where they’re being hassled.”
According to the Tampa Tribune, deputies made more than 80 arrests at last year’s event. Charges included possession of cocaine, drunk driving and disorderly conduct. A concert-goer reportedly died in 2001 of a drug overdose.
“We didn’t want to give [concert-goers] any inconvenience,” Oliviero added. “That’s what it turned out to be over the last few years. So until we can get everybody in order to where they’ll have a pleasant concert-going experience, we just decided to move in another direction.”
The two-day festival was conceived by Oliviero 15 years ago when his radio station, WXTB-FM – or 98 Rock – was planning its first concert. The show is held at a 350-acre field in Zephyrhills owned by Mike Sierra and Festival Park Inc.
Meanwhile, Oliviero is planning a one-day concert at Tampa’s 20,000-seat
A call to the amphitheatre seeking comment on its pending noise dispute lawsuit with Hillsborough County’s Environmental Protection Commission was not returned at press time. The EPC claims it has received more than 170 noise complaints from neighbors of the venue, according to the St. Petersburg Times.
Also named in the suit is venue owner