TUSCALOOSA, AL (CelebrityAccess) — The Tuscaloosa City Council on Tuesday agreed to renew its contract with Red Mountain Entertainment to handle programming at the City-owned Tuscaloosa Amphitheater.
According to The Tuscaloosa News, the three-year contract will see Red Mountain provide services including booking, advertising and promoting events at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater; host and maintain the venue’s website; and other operations at the venue.
As well, the extended contract also upped the fee the city pays the company for said services from $12,500 per month to $17,500, with a further bump to $18,000 a month of the council exercises its option to extend the deal through 2024.
Negotiations over the renewed contract took over an hour, with several council members expressing concern that Red Mountain’s previous bookings at the amphitheater were sufficiently diverse to meet the interests of the community, the Tuscaloosa News reported.
“How can we see more of a satisfaction for all the citizens in Tuscaloosa from the acts that come to the amphitheater?” asked Councilwoman Raevan Howard in one exchange reported by the Tuscaloosa News.
In answer to the Councilwoman’s question, Red Mountain Entertainment’s Gary Weinberger explained the differences between booking touring urban acts and pop acts.
“We’re constantly trying to evaluate who is touring,” Weinberger said, per the Tuscaloosa News. “But the R&B touring model, as a whole, is not as vibrant, or there’s not as many artists who are touring for a living as there are in other formats.”
The Council meeting also revealed some details about the shed’s 2017 season:
There were 15 events at the amphitheater in 2017 — four country shows, five rock/classic rock shows, five urban/R&B performances and one community event on the Fourth of July. Of all of the shows, only the country shows generated profits at the venue, producing $373,484, according to figures provided by the City Council.
Conversely, Urban/R&B acts netted the largest shortfall with a loss of $236,313, while rock and classic rock shows lost $79,164, the Tuscaloosa News said.
Upcoming shows on the schedule at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater include The Tedeschi Trucks Band, Jason Aldean, Keith Urban and Odesza.
