Taste of Chicago bid: Free isn't working
It’s hard to imagine the city turning down the reported sole bidder to run Taste of Chicago and its other outdoor summer festivals.
Given the qualifications of that bidder – Celebrate Chicago, a partnership that includes experienced concert promoters Jam Productions and AEG Live, plus the Illinois Restaurant Association – accepting the bid offers not just a way for the city to trim its budget but to actually improve the musical quality of its downtrodden summer festivals.
The down side, of course, is that a few of these events would no longer be “free” (though patrons already are paying for food tickets at Taste). But the admission fees that are being proposed ($20 at Taste up to $65 for major concert draws, $10 for Blues and Jazz Fest, free for Viva Chicago, Celtic, Gospel and Country Fest) aren’t exorbitant. Pricing safeguards need to be installed to ensure these festivals remain accessible and affordable to the vast majority of Chicagoans, a reasonable middle ground between "free" and "out of my league."
What’s clear is that "free" wasn't working anymore, and hasn’t been for quite some time. With the exception of Stevie Wonder, Elvis Costello and a handful of others, the top concert draws at Taste and the other, more music-intensive city summer events in recent years have been below par, a parade of has-beens, journeymen and cover bands.
In booking Taste, the Mayor’s Office of Special Events made an effort in recent years to draw on the rich local community, and turned over some smaller stages to local labels. Jam and its partners can surely expand that initiative. The involvement of Jam – as opposed to some deep-pocketed outside promoter with no real ties to Chicago – could be a potential boon for both the festivals and the local music community. Tie-ins with Chicago-based labels and clubs (who traditionally suffer during the summer months while most touring acts play outdoors) could and should be encouraged.
At the other end of the spectrum, Jam and AEG (which also has ties to the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival) should have enough clout, credibility and connections to draw top-tier talent to Grant Park throughout the summer.
Bottom line from a musical standpoint: Privatizing Taste was inevitable, and the bidding options could’ve been far worse. If there was a surprise, it is that Texas-based C3 Presents, which books Lollapalooza in Grant Park, decided to sit out. It would have been interesting to see how the city would’ve handled a competing bid from a company that has ingratiated itself with the Daley administration in recent years. But C3 apparently had its hands full launching the latest incarnation of Lollapalooza, which is to debut in Chile in April.
Meanwhile, time’s a-wasting. Most summer festivals are booked by this point, which means that should Celebrate Chicago be awarded the contract, it will need to work fast. It’s the first of what are sure to be many challenges facing the city’s prospective partner-in-waiting.
greg@gregkot.com
Blues: $10.00
Jazz: $10.00
Celtic: $0.00
Country: $0.00
I'm just sayin...
- MrJM
Posted by: MrJM | January 04, 2011 at 03:37 PM
If there is an admission fee, there will be less attendance. Think of all the people who attend several times a year, they are not going to pay $20.00 just to walk thur the gate. All the loop workers who go to taste daily for lunch, would no long attend. There is already an extra fee to each strip of tickets, maybe add a dollar more to the cost of tickets to make up the loss of an admission fee.
Posted by: tommyme | January 04, 2011 at 04:25 PM
One of the things that's always been great about summer in Chicago is the amount of fun, free fests. I know quite a few people who come in during the summers, stay at hotels and spend their money other places in the city...simply because some of the other entertainment is free. With parking fees on the rise again, a sales tax that's one of the highest in the country and the demise of some of the larger free fests...Chicago doesn't look like such a great summer destination anymore. Especially in this economy. As a resident, I know my wife's and my money will not be going toward a $20 entrance fee for about $4 worth of food and a beverage. And certainly not the multiple days we usually attend.
Posted by: J | January 04, 2011 at 07:54 PM
I am right there with you--if handled in the right way I think this could be the best thing possible for the Taste and the city. Let's embrace the new decade.
Posted by: Carole Brewer, Show Me Chicago | January 04, 2011 at 08:05 PM
Greg, calling the proposed $65 entrance fee to Taste concerts not exorbitant and then saying only a few words later that "Pricing safeguards need to be installed to ensure these festivals remain accessible and affordable to the vast majority of Chicagoans" is quite funny to me. The most diverse and successfull Taste concert in recent memory was Stevie Wonder. If Stevie Wonder tickets had cost $65 at that time, the show would've been neither as diverse or as successful. If you think $65 as opposed to free is a reasonable change in today's economy, you need a reality check.
Posted by: Jim | January 05, 2011 at 07:11 AM