Getting To Know Your Pollstar Live! Panelists: Donnie Estopinal

Pollstar Live!, the world’s largest gathering of live entertainment professionals, returns to the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, Feb. 21-23. The three-day conference is a flagship event for Pollstar magazine with compelling keynotes, panels, roundtables and the Pollstar Awards, celebrating the best in the business, along with plenty of opportunities to network and engage in insightful discussions.

Pollstar Live! kicks off with Production Live!, the one-day companion conference that features panels on all topics related to staging live events including lighting, video, stage management, sound technique, concert production, video, regulations, security and more.

Click these links for the Production Live! schedule and the Pollstar Live! schedule. Register for Pollstar Live! here.

Getting To Know Your Pollstar Live! Panelists

Donnie Estopinal
CEO of Disco Donnie Presents
Panel: Knowing When to Pull The Plug or Sweat It Out
Bio: Estopinal is the founder of Disco Donnie Presents, an award-winning and recognized electronic dance music event production leader. Since the company’s inception in 1994, DDP has sold more than 18 million tickets and produced over 18,000 live events, arena shows and outdoor festivals in more than 100 markets worldwide.

Why must everyone go to your panel?
I’m placing a keg of Milwaukee’s Best Light under everyone’s chair.

What’s the story you won’t tell?
Lots of them will be in the imaginary book that I will never write, but running out of gas while bringing an artist to the hotel is pretty special. Welcome to New Orleans: “I’ll push while you steer.”

What may cause tempers to flare?
A lot of red wine with a dash of cocaine seems to always do the trick.

What was the best part of your 2022?
That it ended, allegedly.

Your predictions for 2023’s live industry highlight?
To quote my great friend Pat Boone: “Everything is going to be alright.”

Career tent poles you are most proud of?
In 1990, I was the president of my fraternity at LSU. I met the Alpha Phi Alpha president at a leadership college retreat, and we both agreed to make history and host the first ever mixed (Black/white) exchange at a Southeastern Conference school. There were multiple David Duke posters in our fraternity house windows, but young me somehow convinced every single active member to show up to the party. The best part is that the event was held at the Alpha Phi Alpha house. Nothing I do can ever top that.