Live Nation’s PEI Fee

Live Nation has emerged as the “mystery promoter” that officials in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, paid more than $1 million to find a big-name act for a summer concert that never materialized.

The Canadian city has been courting concerts for some time and when the opportunity arose to book a show in July, city councilors jumped on it, making two direct payments of $600,000 to LN without ever taking the expenditure to a public vote, according to the local Journal Pioneer.

But July came and went, and some began to worry what had become of the $1.2 million finder’s fee to Live Nation. The city is now reportedly planning to hold the concert next summer. The finder’s fee is just that: Live Nation will not promote the show. That is left up to the city, and the paper questioned how risky (and expensive) the endeavor could prove to be.

“This is a chance we have to take,” city councilor Barry Chappell told the Pioneer. “If you don’t get into that group to get those concerts here with the promoters then you’re just left out of the picture all together.

“We started with the smaller ones and giving them a try and we made money with some of them. That’s just the way it goes. What they’re trying to do is build up a kitty to promote arts and culture in the city.”

Mum continues to be the word regarding potential acts because of a non-disclosure agreement with LN, though Mayor Basil Stewart assured the paper the city’s top-dollar investment won’t go to waste as the concert is going to be “a big one.”

“The easiest thing to do is sit back and do nothing,” he added. “We ain’t made that way around here. You’ve got to get out and work to make things happen.”