livenation! There is something you need to know about livenation City, state officials meet with Live Nation about bringing events to Niagara Falls

City, state officials meet with Live Nation about bringing events to Niagara Falls

NIAGARA FALLS â€" Representatives from the entertainment promotions company Live Nation spent part of their day in the city of Niagara Falls on Thursday.

Mayor Paul Dyster and officials from the state-run USA Niagara Development Corp. met with four Live Nation executives for more than an hour to discuss the potential business opportunities.

Dyster said the meeting included a walking tour along Old Falls Street and a bus tour of various development sites in the community.

“This was our first face-to-face meeting,” Dyster said. “I think everybody came away from the meeting with a positive feeling. We basically told them we are very interested in accessing their expertise based on their involvement in this industry.”

Thursday’s meeting stemmed from a formal request last month from U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, who asked Live Nation President and CEO Michael Rapino to sit down with city and state officials to explore the possibility of bringing some marquee performers to the Falls. The meeting with the company’s general manager, its upstate New York business manager and a top executive from another one of Live Nation’s ventures â€" the House of Blues restaurant chain. USA Niagara President Chris Schoepflin and senior project manager Paul Tronolone also took part in the discussion. Schumer did not participate in the meeting, but was represented by his regional representative Laura Monte.

Live Nation is a leading global entertainment company that runs Ticketmaster.com and Live Nation Concerts which produces more than 20,000 shows annually. The company’s holdings also include Front Line, an artist management company that represents Christina Aguilera, Aerosmith, Jimmy Buffett and dozens of other top-end performers. Schumer previously suggested Live Nation may be a good partner to help the city build upon the success of its annual summer Hard Rock Cafe concert series, which drew 60,000 spectators to Old Falls Street this year.  

Dyster said the Live Nation executives asked about the types of musical events currently being offered in the city, the condition of the marketplace and the level of appeal among Canadian visitors. Dyster said he and the other local representatives in attendance agreed to provide the Live Nation officials with more detailed information in anticipation of another meeting in the future. He also said the tour was intended to give the executives a sense of the type of facilities and potential development sites the city has to offer.

According to Dyster, the Live Nation officials made it clear they are not interested in putting on any type of free concert series like the Hard Rock concerts that are currently held downtown during the summer. Dyster said only that the discussion involved “other opportunities” that the company may be interested in exploring.