Augusta Economic Development Authority Board Chairman Steven Kendrick says he was unaware that refunds for Masters week concerts at Lake Olmstead Stadium have not been refunded, and he has promised to get to the bottom of the matter.
Would-be concert goers for shows are fuming that they have not received a refund for tickets they purchased to the shows that were scrapped at the last moment.
“I am going to start making phone calls about this just as soon as I finish this meeting with you,” Kendrick said as he left a candidate endorsement interview with The Augusta Press editorial board. “I did not know anything about the refunds, but I’m gonna call them and find out what’s going on.”
MORE: XPR Augusta Concerts Canceled
Kendrick has close ties to C4 Live, which leases the stadium from the Augusta Economic Development Board, is the company responsible for scheduling and canceling the shows. The Las Vegas-based company has donated a total of $6,000 to Kendrick’s mayoral campaign, according to campaign records filed with the Board of Elections.
Advertisements for the scheduled events included Kendrick as a sort of local spokesman for the company. One particular advertisement, sent out by Augusta Tomorrow, instructed ticket buyers to use the promotional code “KENDRICK” to receive a discount on tickets.
Photographs show Kendrick speaking at the press conference where the concerts were announced. The Masters week concerts were to have featured Blake Shelton, Tim McGraw and Jimmy Buffett.
Kendrick, who is the only mayoral candidate, so far, to accept out-of-state donations and the only candidate to receive a donation at the maximum legal limit from a corporation, readily admits he accepted the donations, but insists the money did not influence his decision to advocate that the city develop a public/private partnership with C4 Live.
“They presented a great plan; they wanted to outright buy the stadium at one point. I know that they did a lot of work at that facility, but they were unaware of the problems with the grounds, and when those problems became apparent, they had to postpone, but first they had to notify the artists that were involved,” Kendrick said.
MORE: Commissioners to move to more formal arrangement with Gold Cross
A local music promoter, who wishes not to be named, says that while unexpected things happen, generally there is no complete “out clause” in a promotion contract between a promoter and artist once the contract is signed and a date is secured.
“I doubt an artist like Jimmy Buffett would add a date on his website without a contract, and so either the company found some loophole to wriggle off the hook due to low ticket sales or they likely owe those artists scheduled to perform a lot of money,” the promoter said.
The promoter also disclosed that members of his own family bought tickets to the event and have never been reimbursed.
“I don’t want to say bad anything about the industry, but sometimes these things happen,” the promoter said. “They should always make it right with the people who bought the tickets and the artist that was scheduled to play.”
MORE: Local man shares his account of post commission meeting fracas
C4 Live took down its website for the events and replaced the URL “XPRAUG.com” with a page that only includes a statement that they are in the process of refunding ticket holders.
“Due to the high volume of cancellations, additional refunds may not begin processing for up to 20 days from the posted cancellation date,” the website reads.
The page at the listed URL does not have any prompts or icons for people to check on their ticket status and has no contact information listed.
Another website c4liveent.com still lists the Masters Week concerts and Soul Festival dates.
Scott Hudson is the senior reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
