City considering new booking agency for the Mercedes-Benz Amphitheater

The Mercedes-Benz Amphitheater may be booked by a new agency for the first time since its 2011 opening, if negotiations continue as planned with Danny Wimmer Presents.

At the June 25 Tuscaloosa City Council meeting, a vote passed unanimously authorizing negotiations with DWP, a music festival production and promotion company out of Los Angeles. The city of Tuscaloosa has contracted with Red Mountain Entertainment, out of Birmingham, which is now Red Mountain Entertainment/Live Nation, since the amphitheater's opening in April 2011. The June 25 vote authorized the city to negotiate with DWP for "professional consulting and related services for the Mercedes-Benz Amphitheater."

Though other agencies have been eyed over the years, contracts have been renewed with Red Mountain Entertainment a number of times. But with the rise of new amphitheaters in the region, including those in Huntsville, Birmingham (to be opened in 2025) and Brandon, Mississippi, each roughly the same size — 8,000 to 9,000 — there'll be more venues vying for acts in these tertiary markets, said Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox.

"You're always looking across the landscape, especially with the Mercedes-Benz renaming, and what's coming in the competition," he said. After issuing a request for proposals, the city's arts and entertainment committee saw DWP as a potential way to move forward.

"We are very excited about the future of the Mercedes-Benz Amphitheater, and we're excited about our position in the market, but you have to continue to elevate your game," Maddox said.

In the mayor's April presentation of capital budget items, improvements to the Mercedes-Benz Amphitheater were among top concerns, with a 10-year plan laying out investments in upgrades and infrastructure. Among those are a new and expanded VIP club; additions to artists' areas such revamped dressing rooms and other experience-enhancing efforts; more suites, more club-style seating, and other implementations.

DWP is led by the son of a musician, one who'd gotten involved with the business at an early age. Wimmer and his company, begun coincidentally the same year as Tuscaloosa's amphitheater, have created and produced events such as Rock on the Range, Aftershock, Louder than Life, Chicago Open Air, Sonic Temple, Epicenter, Welcome to Rockville, and Carolina Rebellion.

As those names suggest, DWP has built largely around rock 'n' roll, but has expanded its reach in Americana with Bourbon and Beyond, and a country festival called Hometown Rising, both in Louisville, Kentucky. DWP has been ranked in Pollstar's top 100 promoters worldwide, and Wimmer was named to Pollstar’s 2023 and 2024 Impact 50 lists, for those exerting the largest impact on the live music business.

In addition to the DWP bona fides, the mayor loves the company's energy, its passion about wanting to be in our market. Wimmer seems to understand Tuscaloosa's position: Though small compared to some of the places DWP works, Tuscaloosa has built-in opportunities with the University of Alabama, and 38,000-plus students, at its core. Add to that the renaming, the coming investments, and the venue's location in the center of a growing and thriving downtown, and the Mercedes-Benz Amphitheater seems poised for even greater success, Maddox said.

"For us to be competitive in the decades ahead, especially with our market share, we have to be creative," he said. He added that RME and its co-founder Gary Weinberger, a Tuscaloosa native, had done a "fantastic job" for the city, consulting during the amphitheater planning process, and booking and running things since.

"We would not be where we are without Red Mountain and Gary Weinberger," the mayor said. Other pivotal folks have included Wendy Riggs, a native Tuscaloosan who came back with decades of show-business expertise to help its first seasons flow; the city's current arts and entertainment director Kay Day; and the venue's operations manager, Matt Jones, along with numerous other city crew, both those on-staff, and those hired per occasion.

Despite being in a smaller market, Tuscaloosa has in its amphitheater years sometimes punched above its weight, landing acts including Phish, Def Leppard, John Mayer, Dave Matthews Band, Mary J. Blige, Miranda Lambert, Soundgarden, Rod Stewart, Cyndi Lauper, Ringo Starr and His All-Star Band, Todd Rundgren, Crosby Stills and Nash, Chris Stapleton, Bob Dylan, ODESZA, Brad Paisley, Hall and Oates, John Legend, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Alabama Shakes, Steely Dan, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, the Richard Thompson Trio, Styx, Brandi Carlile, Earth Wind and Fire, Alan Jackson, Counting Crows, Backstreet Boys, Wilco, Zac Brown Band, Keith Urban, Poison, the Lumineers, Fun, Tegan and Sara, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Gotye, Missy Higgins, Kelly Clarkson, the Fray, Daughtry, Live, Neko Case, Pretty Lights, Sound Tribe Sector 9, Jamey Johnson, Sturgill Simpson, Flo Rida, Nelly, Rob Thomas, Jack Johnson, Darius Rucker, Peter Frampton, the Doobie Brothers, Brantley Gilbert, Coolio, Color Me Badd, TLC, Hank Williams Jr., the Commodores, the Blind Boys of Alabama, Moon Taxi, Lynyrd Skynyrd, REO Speedwagon, Parliament-Funkadelic, Sheila E., Dawes, Kings of Leon, Rick Springfield, and ZZ Top.

The remainder of the 2024 season includes:

• AUG. 30: Tom Segura, 7:30 p.m. Tickets for $99.50, $59.50, $49.50, and $32.50, plus fees and taxes, through www.ticketmaster.com, or or at the venue's box office, 2710 Jack Warner Parkway. www.mercedesbenzamphitheater.com.

• SEPT. 20: Cody Jinks, the Cadillac Three and Calder Allen, 7 p.m. Tickets $258, $158, $107.50, $87.50, $67.50, $47.50 and $33, plus taxes and fees.

• SEPT. 26: Koe Wetzel, Treaty Oak Revival, 7 p.m. Tickets $83, $63, $53, $43, plus fees and taxes.

• OCT. 18: Dwight Yoakam, The Mavericks, 7:30 p.m. Tickets $149.50, $125, $75, $55, $45, $35, plus fees and taxes.

Once negotiations begin, there'll be more detail about whether DWP would handle all aspects that Red Mountain Entertainment has, or whether the city might pick up some of those functions.

"Through the last 13 years of operating an amphitheater, we know things now that we didn't before," Maddox said, adding the city also plans, promotes and produces other arts and entertainment events such as the Live at the Plaza concerts, the spring Druid City Arts Festival, Holidays on the Plaza and more, "so we may be more comfortable doing X, Y or Z ourselves."

But in any case, booking acts would be the lion's share of any contract with DWP. And with DWP's extensive festival experience, the possibilities of a Tuscaloosa-based multi-day, multi-act event would be strong.

For 20-plus years, earlier city leaders created and ran CityFest and Weindorf, but that died out in 2005, victims of bad-weather seasons, changes in the market and other issues. The former Tuscaloosa Tourism and Sports built a coalition to create the first Druid City Music Festival, run two days in August 2019, but again damaged by weather, and then the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I'd personally be very interested in doing a festival," Maddox said. With UA events filling hotels 40% of Tuscaloosa's weekends, whether through athletics, family weekends or other occasions, that leaves options for a number of other times.

"Of course, it's one thing to say you want, and another thing to make it happen," he said. "You've gotta work around weather; you've gotta work around holidays.

"But we're very open to the idea, possibly using the Amphitheater as the train station of a sort, for a festival."

Reach Mark Hughes Cobb at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Tuscaloosa considers switching booking agencies for the amphitheater