Impact 50 Cover Honoree: Long Live Rock (And Music Fests)! Danny Wimmer Grows Business, Shapes Industry

With another year of expecting more than 1 million attendees at its six core music festivals across the country Danny Wimmer Presents continues to grow while operating in one of the more volatile sectors of the live music industry, giving fans, artists and whole municipalities high-impact, large-scale events to plan their years, and business, around.

“Festivals are absolutely a high-risk business,” Wimmer tells Pollstar, having this year already pulled off major May festivals in Welcome to Rockville in Daytona Beach, Florida, and Sonic Temple in Columbus, Ohio, attracting an average 200,000 over each four-day weekend.  

Starting as co-owner of the Milk Bar in Jacksonville, Florida, in the ‘90s the promoter has grown from putting on a heavy metal ruckus in the midwest to drawing more than 70,000 fans per day to see the biggest artists in the world, with examples from metal gods Metallica to country superstar Zach Bryan, gen-z darling Noah Kahan, art-rock idols Tool and countless others. 

“The growth of DWP has come from taking calculated risks, not reckless ones,” says Wimmer, a fierce independent who for a stint was partnered with AEG before “a significant investment” from Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa Companies was announced in early 2020. “We’ve made some big bets along the way, but we’ve also walked away from a lot of opportunities that didn’t align with who we are or where we wanted to go. Sometimes the most important decision is knowing what not to do. That discipline allowed us to build a strong foundation in rock and establish a level of trust with fans, artists, partners, and the communities where we operate.”

A certain ruthlessness and tenacity is required to operate within and compete at this level of the concert industry, but Wimmer is known for a hands-on and kind approach with staff, artists and other peers and partners, developing lasting relationships with local leaders and hiring from within the cities his festivals call home.

“I’ve built my career in rock, and while I genuinely love all kinds of music, I’ve always believed focus matters,” says Wimmer, whose experience with artists like Tool, Godsmack, Limp Bizkit and others leads to occasional arena dates, culinary collaborations or even wine businesses for the promoter. 

“Over the years, there have been plenty of opportunities to chase different genres and trends, but I felt it was important to stay committed to what we know best before trying to be everything to everyone.”

He’s also an avid and impressive distance runner, tackling hardcore ultra marathons (sometimes in the muddy mountains) and surfing with industry colleagues like 5B Artists + Media’s Cory Brennan, the noted manager of Slipknot whose clients have long been a staple at DWP events and who referred to Wimmer as “a maniac” when it comes to competitive endurance events.

Festivals can be considered endurance events of their own, often not lasting more than a few years before fizzling out, and subject to factors like unpredictable weather — not to mention just the challenge of taking care of 150 metal bands over the weekend.

To most in the industry, he’s more admired than feared — although few venue bookers are fond of radius clauses — giving a huge platform and reliable festival home for hundreds of artists. Support from the industry is apparent, as evidenced by recent Pollstar Award wins including a big one for Bourbon & Beyond as music festival of the year, in a crowded space that includes staple music festivals like Coachella, Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo. 

DWP and its flagship rock festivals — Welcome To Rockville (Daytona Beach), Louder Than Life (Louisville), Aftershock (Sacramento) and Sonic Temple (Columbus) – continue to grow, with four jam-packed day  and larger-than-ever lineups due to fan demand, meaning early sets from major artists on a Thursday. The varied and long-lasting rock genre makes for carefully curated stages each day, meaning it’s common to catch classic rock titans like KISS or Iron Maiden, upstart headliners like Turnstile and Pierce The Veil, niche critics favorites like Converge and Acid Bath, oddball projects like Dethklok and prog-metal favorites like Dream Theater all playing within minutes of each other. The Inkarceration festival offers an even heavier lifestyle element, building on tattoo culture and offering more extreme sonic mayhem at the historic Ohio State Reformatory, site of the film classic “The Shawshank Redemption.”

“Today, I’m more open than ever to exploring new genres and new opportunities,” Wimmer says, “But I think we’ve earned the right to do that because we stayed focused, remained patient, and built something sustainable first.”

Surely putting in the time, the company’s homegrown and hometown-developed Bourbon & Beyond festival – sharing a site with Louder Than Life at the Kentucky Expo Center – has quickly gone from lifestyle appetizer two-day festival in 2017 to smash hit, in 2024 seeing more than 65,000 people on Saturday night headlined by Zach Bryan. The occasion was a clear multi-genre milestone for the promoter and more than proved the concept of local flavor, operational excellence and expertise in lifestyle elements, including alcohol.

“The days when fans would tolerate long lines, mediocre food, and uncomfortable environments are over, and that’s a good thing,” Wimmer says. Maybe it’s no surprise, then, that DWP has its own hospitality company, Southern Hospitality Concessions. “That’s why we’ve invested heavily in VIP, hospitality, food and beverage, comfort, shade, premium viewing and all the things that make a festival feel special. At Bourbon & Beyond, food and beverage are every bit as important as the music. At our rock festivals, fans want better amenities without losing the authenticity that makes those events special. We’ve always believed those experiences are too important to outsource entirely. When you’re hands-on, you can control the quality and continue raising the bar. That’s where the industry is headed.”

Coming up, DWP is bringing back the Golden Sky country festival – anchored by its long-running Aftershock at the sprawling, tree-lined Discovery Park in Sacramento, and continues to diversify in standalone talent buying, consulting and even venue development. 

“We’ve learned over the years that bigger isn’t always better,” Wimmer says. “The right opportunity is what matters. We’re constantly evaluating markets, genres, and ideas, but we won’t launch something just to launch it. When we enter a market, we want to be there for the long haul. We want to build something meaningful that becomes part of the community and creates value for fans, artists, and local partners alike. We currently have two new markets that we’re excited about and expect to share more details on those in the very near future.”