Parnelli Awards 2014 - Pollstar News

The 14th annual Parnelli Awards, honoring the people of the live event industry, were handed out at the MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas Nov. 22.

Frankie Valli visits the Parnelli Awards to hand out honors to MSI's Bob Goldstein in Las Vegas Nov. 22.

Strictly FX won pyro company of the year for its contribution to the Super Bowl Halftime Show, and MooTV got video rental company of the year for the Garth Brooks tour.

Rock-It Cargo got the freight forwarding company award and Sound Image won best sound company.

David Milam got the tour manager nod for his work with Toby Keith, and Upstaging got trucking company and lighting company of the year. Atlanta Rigging Systems won rigging company of the year.

The awards show marked the passing of Parnelli cofounder Patrick Stansfield. His longtime friend, Marshall Bissett, introduced a video he shot of Stansfield a few weeks before he died.

Because Stansfield knew he would not be able to make the show, he wanted to welcome everyone, make a few jokes and talk about the award’s namesake, Rick “Parnelli” O’Brien.

Frankie Valli gave thanks to Bob Goldstein, who received the audio innovator award. Valli once lent Goldstein a couple of hundred dollars to build a sound console.

The show was hosted by Tubes singer Fee Waybill, who said he was a roadie before his career went “horribly wrong.”