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SANTA CLARA — Just when the controversy over an early curfew for Levi’s Stadium concerts seems to have quieted down, the Rolling Stones’ tour promoters stoked the fires this week following the rock group’s recent performance there.
The curfew wasn’t the main problem in this case, though. After all, time was on the Stones’ side as they were able to play an hour beyond the regular 10 p.m. cutoff.
Instead, two members of the Stones’ tour team who arranged the Aug. 18 Levi’s Stadium appearance blasted the city of Santa Clara for micromanaging and imposing 11th-hour changes that make the stadium “no longer worth the effort to play there.”
“…Do you not want touring shows anymore? The impression I and many others in the industry have, is your facility is getting so restrictive and dysfunctional, it’s no longer worth the effort to play there due to the myriad and random rule changes,” wrote John Morrison, site promoter and production manager for the Rolling Stones’ No Filter 2019 tour in an Aug. 23 letter to Levi’s Stadium general manager Jim Mercurio.
Among the last-minute changes cited by Morrison and the band’s security coordinator, Michael Wozniak, the city cancelled the concert’s pyrotechnic show, requested the band’s structural engineer fly in to inspect the stage — cost, $6,000 — and did not allow stadium catering to feed the performers.
“Then the no pyro at the last minute, when our pyrotechnician has done countless shows in the stadium as well as across America for numerous artists, without incident, only to be told if he disobeys the demand from the fire department he would be subject to black listing from the state,” Morrison wrote. “really, is this how you operate?”
City manager Deanna Santana rebutted the criticism, saying the San Francisco 49ers, which manage and operate Levi’s, “brought issues very late to the city’s attention,” forcing it to make decisions within very short time frames.
“The City has a responsibility to ensure that events comply with building and fire codes, which it did and, it is unfortunate that the Forty Niners and Promoters view this regulatory function as excessive or micromanaging,” Santana said in an email.
As for the stadium itself, Morrison complimented it and said he’d like to return “under more favorable conditions.”
“Your facility is top notch, your staff commendable, and yet each time someone mentions playing Levi’s, we all cringe, knowing that some new rule will be applied to the show just before we either start loading in or before the show,” Morrison wrote. “I understand rules and regulations…but the great unknown or random rules makes for a hesitancy on the bookers’ part to play those stadiums.”
It wasn’t immediately clear whether other concert promoters feel the same way because efforts to immediately reach some of them weren’t successful.
Wozniak, in a separate letter to the stadium manager, said the city pushed for “outlandish, and quite frankly, unsafe” security changes that were eventually abandoned, including erecting barricades around a standing room-only area he said would put “our fans at risk by corralling them into inescapable pens surrounded by bike rack.”
“I don’t quite understand all of the over regulation and micro management,” Wozniak wrote in an email. “The touring industry has made note of the difficulties and uncertainties presented by the City and eventually will just skip your market.”
Santana said the fireworks show was not cancelled, noting that the city received an application from the pyrotechnics company, Flickers, but not from the promoters, which was approved on Aug. 15.
“It is unfair and untruthful for the Promoters to blame the City, when their own application did not propose the use of fireworks and solely the use of Flickers. The City approved the application that it received,” Santana said in an email.
Fire Chief Ruben Torres said the decision not to have a pyrotechnics show was “made by the performer/promoter based on the timing of their ‘run of show’ because the permit does not allow fireworks after 10 p.m.
“The pyrotechnician chose to abide by the conditions of the permit issued by the Fire Department and did not launch any fireworks after 10 p.m.” Torres said in an email.
To Wozniak’s complaint about using barricades in a standing room area, community development director Andrew Crabtree responded that the city discussed “multiple options” to ensure people wouldn’t block exit aisles and ultimately concluded the stadium could use tape on the ground to mark the aisles.
Morrison also complained about a “last minute request” for the tour’s structural engineer to inspect the stage, which he claimed has never previously been required at Levi’s Stadium.
Crabtree said stage inspections are standard practice, and other concerts have the same requirement. The promoter knew about this before the permit was issued, some 10 days before the event, Crabtree said in an email.
The two Rolling Stones letters were shared with this news organization by the 49ers, which operate and manage the stadium year-round.
Rahul Chandhok, vice president of public affairs and strategic communications for the 49ers, said the complaints from the Rolling Stones’ staff reflect a combative city attitude that will ultimately hurt the stadium’s ability to book competitive talent.
Referring to Santana, Chandhok said, “Her actions would have directly harmed concertgoers. Such stunts may appease Mayor (Lisa) Gillmor, but they continue to harm every Santa Clara resident.”
The 49ers have quarreled with the city over its management since the stadium opened in 2014, most prominently over the 10 p.m. curfew for weeknight concerts and 11 p.m. curfew on weekends, which they say will drive away high-profile acts.
Earlier this year, the team blamed the curfew for a disappointing haul, saying its annual event revenue in the last fiscal year totaled $750,000 instead of the projected $5 million.
A few large concerts at Levi’s Stadium, including a Beyonce performance in 2016 and Coldplay and U2 acts in 2017, have violated the curfew, resulting in small fines. British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran, who recently set a record for the highest-grossing tour, reportedly cancelled a show at the stadium for his 2018 tour because of the curfew.
The city meanwhile has defended the curfew, saying it spares stadium neighbors from disruptive late nighttime noise. The stadium is losing event revenue simply because the 49ers have managed it poorly, the city says.
The Sunday Rolling Stones concert was rescheduled after frontman Mick Jagger, 75, underwent heart surgery earlier this year.
Although city spokeswoman Lenka Wright told Silicon Valley Voice on Aug. 20 that Santana authorized an extension of the curfew by one hour, Santana said Wednesday there was no formal deal to do so, although the city was aware the event would likely go to 11 p.m. because it was originally scheduled for a weekend in May.
Gillmor responded to the criticism by pointing to other disputes over the 49ers’ management of the stadium.
“The 49ers should spend less time criticizing others and more time learning how to follow the laws like those governing workers wages and the curfew, which they agreed to when they opened the stadium in 2014,” Gillmor said in a text message.
In May, the city threatened to revoke the team’s authority to issue contracts involving stadium operations and cut its management fee over allegations the stadium failed to pay prevailing wage to workers.
Contact Thy Vo at 408-200-1055 or tvo@bayareanewsgroup.com.
