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74 2003 - 2004 Edition

They had been organizing andpromoting concerts since their

college days in California. Crestonattended Cal Poly San Luis Obispoand Paul went to Cal State Fuller-

ton, and both had been in charge ofthe social events at their fraternities.

“We grew up throwing parties

in high school, so this was in thecards,” Creston said. “It was allabout entertaining people.”

They started Bravo aftercontacting LA Ski & Sun Tours,which sold travel packages tocollege students. The Thorntons

started getting bands involved inthe process.

“There had been a slight drop in

sales and we wanted something tobring in more business. We thoughtdoing a week in Mexico and ending

it with a Candlebox concert on thebeach for 10,000 kids was a goodway to go.”

That kind of innovative thinkinghas served Bravo well from the verybeginning. “We moved back here

because our family was originallyfrom Sun Valley” Creston said.

“When we moved back to Idaho

in ‘93, we already had Bravo going.We knew that bands had to stopsomewhere between Seattle and

Salt Lake City. They were spendingthe night in Boise, but nobody wasplaying here.”

Not one to miss an opportunity,Bravo forged a partnership withlongtime concert promoter Bill

Silva, which provided the upstartcompany with some capital andclout. Then Creston met with the

Idaho Center’s Peter Jackson before

the building went up and madea deal to buy talent. He didn’t stop

there – not by a long shot.While Creston does the talent

buying and handles the “face stuff ”

with agents, managers and spon-sors, Paul deals with the finances.

“Paul is the great behind-the-

scenes negotiator,” his brother said.“He’s great at giving presentationsand bringing our vision to people.

I think he’s very talented.“I think starting this company

together was the best decision we’vemade, and we haven’t killed each

other.”Today, Bravo owns its own

concert venues, has a number of

exclusive booking arrangementsand does shows in California,Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Washington,

Montana, North Dakota, Nevada,Wyoming, Wisconsin and beyond.

Last summer, Creston booked

on behalf of Andrew Dreskin themassive, ill-fated Field Day festivalon Long Island. He’ll close 2003

on a happier note by opening anew Big Easy Concert House inSpokane, Wash.

Overall, how did Bravo

Entertainment do in 2003?

A This year, we’ll do more than

400 shows in 14 states. It’s really

easy for an agent to call and say,

“I’m leaving Seattle on this date

and I need to get to Green Bay;

get me 10-12 dates.”

People are moving to these

secondary markets. They support

live music and they support ticket

sales as long as you keep the price

in line.

A lot of people in the business

got to know you through

Bravo’s early partnership

with Bill Silva. How did that

relationship start and end?

A Bill has been so fair to us

and is such a great guy to work

with. He really took us under

his wing when we moved to Idaho.

It was like, “Hey, there’s a new

market here.” We knew that we

weren’t going to make it on our

own; we needed a financial part-

ner to get these markets devel-

oped. That’s how we approached

Bill.

We had a great relationship.

When Bill sold his company

to House of Blues, Bravo was

somewhat inherited in that deal

but we could leave at any time.

We kept promoting with House

of Blues, and then Clear Channel

came up here and tried to buy

us. We said no because we were

growing too fast and we didn’t

want to become part of that cor-

porate model. We feel that we have

a long way to go before we need to

sell. At that point, we decided that

if we weren’t going to do a deal

with Clear Channel, there was

no reason to have the partnership

with House Of Blues.

We still work with HoB all the

time. I talk to Larry Vallon and

Jeff Trisler practically every day.

We try to coordinate so that we’re

not killing each other because

if there’s one com-

pany I like working

with, it’s HoB.

I still really like

working with Bill,

too, and I hope

we can do more

together.

Did you do OK

in the beginning?

A We started

the company on a

$2,000 credit card

and we lost our

shirts. So we’d put more money

together and try again. This year,

we’re doing more than $21 million

gross sales. It’s taken off like crazy.

We haven’t had a year with less

than 30 percent growth.

What do you attribute that to?

A We hit the right area at the

right time. I would assume that

it’s really hard to be a young

promoter now, especially in

the major markets, competing

against five other companies.

You may get the baby bands

but as soon as they get bigger,

they’re going to go to the bigger

promoter.

We’ve developed these markets

where we control the amphi-

theatres, the arenas and now the

club level. The buildings didn’t

even exist when we started here.

When a facility comes online, we

cut an exclusive deal with it. Now,

we’re buying land and building

an amphitheatre in Bozeman,

Montana.

Your new Spokane club is about

to open. How did it come about

and what’s it going to be like?

A All in all, it’s a $9 million Big

Easy Concert House. It’s a lot

bigger than the Boise club.

We built the Big Easy in

Spokane from the ground up and

it’s been such a creative endeavor

for Paul and me. It takes me out

of the “That show is worth this

much, move it on to marketing,

settle it” mindframe.

Creston ThorntonBravo Entertainment

Boise, Idaho, was starting to take off when

Creston Thornton moved there eight years

ago. It was the perfect home base for Bravo Enter-

tainment, the concert company he had started with

his brother, Paul.

BEFORE THE OCTOBER 2003 arrival of their twins, CrestonThornton and wife Renee occasionally had time to hangout in the Big Easy’s VIP room with artists like LL Cool J.

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Now we’re looking at sightlines

and technology and creating a

whole environment for people

who love live music.

Even though Spokane draws

from a population of 1 million

people, there’s not a lot of life

downtown. But when you get

1,700 people going to see Robert

Cray on a Monday night – people

who are going to have dinner and

drinks and hang out after the

show – every restaurant and bar

downtown is going to benefit

from that. We’re a great draw, so

we’re being welcomed with open

arms.

So we’re building a 1,700-seat,

six-level club in Spokane. It’s

going to be one of the nicest

concert houses in the country.

We’re opening on New Year’s Eve.

I sold over $300,000 worth

of sponsorships in two days.

Spokane is coming together.

The downtown association is

really supportive. We’re going

to do an outdoor summer series

– close down the block for

outdoor shows. I think it’ll

make downtown more attractive

for other businesses. It’s going

to liven up the area.

We’re planning on having

300,000 to 350,000-plus people

through the Spokane Big Easy

the first year, and that’s going to

have a big impact on the city.

When did you decide owning

clubs was the way to go?

A We were booking the arenas

and the amphitheatres up

here and we thought there was

something missing in the Idaho

market – a club for developing

talent.

We opened The Big Easy

hoping to break even and ended

up hitting a home run. It did

three times our business plan.

We did 170 shows the first year

and saw 268,000 people come

through the club. We were the

No. 1 liquor seller in the state of

Idaho the first year we were open

– ahead of Sun Valley Corp.,

which owns the big ski resorts.

So, maybe we’re onto some-

thing. We started thinking about

other regions where we do a lot

of business. Spokane – there’s

more than 1 million people and

five colleges within an hour of

the city, and they’re missing the

same (club) thing.

Has the conservative nature

of the region presented some

challenges?

A Things were very conservative

when we came into these areas

– politically, religiously and

socially. We pushed the envelope

by doing things like putting

Rage Against The Machine in

the Historic Penitentiary here.

We had 3,500 kids in the old

workout yard of this historic

landmark. It

was a great

show and

there were no

problems.

I hope

Bravo is totally

accepted now.

We just did

the AOL party

with the gover-

nor where the

Counting

Crows were

flown in to play

the Big Easy.

We did the

governor’s in-

auguration ball

at the Big Easy.

We’re not ex-

actly anarchists (laughs).

Now that Bravo is well

established, what are you

doing to ensure the future

of the company?

A Promoting is so interesting

because on any day, you can get

creamed or make money.

Paul and I – long term –

have said the money we make in

this business we invest in other

projects. We just bought 119 acres

right outside of Boise where we’re

doing a 59-estate-lot development

with a water skiing lake. We have

another company where we buy

older homes, refurbish them and

put them back on the market.

You have to diversify. The busi-

ness is defined by uncertainty.

I’m getting the shows right now,

but I’m not sure the product is

going to be there for me to sell

down the road. So we have to

open our own concert houses,

own our own properties, do our

own sponsorships and take it to a

new level of involvement. On the

other hand, we have to take the

money we make and diversify it.

I still book every show, and

it’s still kind of odd to go from

the office to a meeting in Eagle,

Idaho, where my brother is doing

a presentation to 50 surrounding

homeowners, the mayor and the

city council,

selling them on

why it’ll be

great to go

waterskiing in

downtown

Eagle.

Then the

next day, I put

on my sponsor-

ship hat and

tell Budweiser,

Miller, Coke

and Pepsi why

they need to be

a major sponsor

of a Bravo

Entertainment

concert house.

Then I come

home, where it’s all about family.

(Creston’s wife, Renee, gave birth

to twins in October.) It’s exciting.

Next up is the amphitheatre

deal. And our investors want us

to open seven to 10 more Big

Easys in the next three years.

We’re aggressively going after

that. We want it to be one of the

top three concert house chains

in the country in the next 3 to 4

years.

I can’t say what markets we’re

looking at, but I can tell you we

do have a signed lease in another

major city and we’re looking

at buildings in two other major

Northwest cities.

How did you decide to build

an amphitheatre in Bozeman?

A The Montana markets have

been really good. We’ve put a

lot of time into developing

relationships. The Brick Breeden

Fieldhouse and (GM) Duane

Morris have been just awesome

to work with. We sold out James

Taylor, Tom Petty, Snoop Dogg,

and matchbox twenty in that

building

If our timing is right, Bozeman

is the place because it draws from

Billings and Missoula. It’s cen-

trally located and people are will-

ing to make the two-hour drive.

The attitude is that there’s

nothing happening there, but

that’s not true. Bozeman has

a great economy and a college

with 16,000-plus students.

There’s not a lot of live

entertainment options, but we’re

still competing with the Internet,

Xbox and big movie premieres.

When you’re looking at the

population of Montana and the

fact that 35,000 seats are sold for

a football game every Saturday,

that’s a big deal.

We see that as an opportunity;

people are willing to come out

and see something they’re inter-

ested in. So we’re going to keep

doing shows at the Brick Breeden

Fieldhouse. In the summer, we’re

looking at 15-20 shows and we’re

going to arrange 4,000-8,000

capacity for the amphitheatre.

We’re also looking at a Little Easy

– I don’t think it’s going to be a

Big Easy – in Bozeman or

Missoula for the college students

– probably an 800 seater to

develop the artists.

Does your location provide

you more opportunity to

co-promote and be civilized

with other promoters?

A We try to do things differently

and to take care of people and

be more creative in marketing.

The Idaho Center’s PETER JACKSON

(center) gets some face time withZZ Top and Thornton after a Bravo-promoted gig.

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76 2003 - 2004 Edition

What I have noticed is that

most of the shows that even

Clear Channel brings through the

Northwest – they’ll sell to us. They

sold us Alabama, Backstreet Boys,

*Nsync, and we’ve made money.

When AEG brought Fleetwood

Mac through, we co-promoted

Boise and Reno with them.

The fact is, they don’t avoid

us. Plus, we own by contract the

inside cover of the Boise Weekly

(arts and entertainment paper),

the inside cover of the BSU

campus paper, a full page five

in the Idaho Statesman (the

statewide paper), and the inside

cover of the Boise Buzz, which is

the newspaper we started. We’ve

locked ourselves into Boise. In

Montana, we’ve done every show

for the past five years except for

a handful of dates.

A lot of the big companies

still work with us. Whether or

not that changes, who knows?

But I don’t feel that there’s a ton

of money to be made in these

markets on the $99 ticket and

the $750,000 guarantees.

And then there’s Field Day,

which you booked without

a big, corporate promoter.

It looked like a sure thing.

A It was beyond a sure thing.

Sixty thousand tickets had been

sold. I think a lot of people didn’t

realize that a company in Boise

booked this massive event on

Long Island.

Did people see that AEG

was involved and assume

they had bought the talent?

A AEG came in at the last minute

and took on some of the financial

risk with (organizer) Andrew

Dreskin. We were given part of

the festival to book it and to help

put it together with Andrew –

who started TicketWeb and is

one of the major investors in the

Big Easy chain.

We do a lot of partnerships

with him, so he approached us.

It was great. He took a crazy idea

and made it a reality.

Funny thing is, the first time

I talked to him about it, I said,

“You never know, the county

could pull the plug on you at the

last minute.” It’s one of the things

that you can’t control. And that’s

the thing about this business;

we can’t control the artists getting

sick, we can’t control the guaran-

tees, we can’t control the city or

county pulling permits.

We had put together Beastie

Boys, Radiohead, Beck, just a

great lineup, from Boise and

spent six months booking it

for a percentage of the festival.

It went from selling 60,000

tickets and generating millions

of dollars to moving to Giants

Stadium and losing millions

of dollars. That was something.

But, who knows? Maybe years

from now I’ll get a random check

from the settlement from the

county. I think there will be

some settlements because there

was a lot of wrongdoing.

I think it was a great concept

and I think everyone involved did a

great job. The partnership with An-

drew and AEG took a big hit, but

we did pull it off and we probably

would have sold 100,000 tickets.

The permits had all been signed

months before, so the fact that it

didn’t happen is no reflection on

us or anyone involved in organiz-

ing Field Day. We proved that New

York wants something like this

and, logistically, it can be done.

What’s your take on summer

festivals? Some big names took

a big hit last summer.

A When I was booking Field Day,

I was also booking the Boise River

Festival, which is a huge family

event. We see over a half-million

people come through town during

those three days. It’s one of the

biggest free festivals in the coun-

try. We had Chris Isaak, Blues

Traveler, Creedence Clearwater

Revisited – a solid lineup

Now, we’re not certain it’s

going to happen in 2004. They’ve

lost a lot of sponsors. A lot of

festivals are having a hard time.

A lot of festivals couldn’t pay

their bills this summer and a lot

of bands are chasing money.

Do you attribute that

to the economy?

A In some ways, I believe the

economy is worse than people

realize, especially in this busi-

ness. People are starting to get a

little money at the lower income

levels but it’s going to diapers and

food, not concert tickets.

People might go see one

concert just to get out and get

a break, but they’re not going to

three or four shows like they used

to. Ticket prices have a lot to do

with that. The fans are thinking

they’ll catch the act next time

around when they have more

money in their pocket.

That’s due in part to the

economy. But I also think the

concert experience has been

weakened somewhat. It’s just the

same old thing. There isn’t much

excitement and there certainly

isn’t as much anticipation. Fans

already know everything about

the band from MTV and the

Internet and other media.

It’s not like 20 years ago when

you weren’t even sure you knew

what the band looked like. When

people went to concerts, it was

more like a party. The vibe was

really unique. It was a different

kind of experience. I think the

whole live concert business has

lost its magic. The price of the

ticket plus parking plus beer,

plus the sameness is a turn-off.

A lot of that has to do with

the price the artist is demanding.

If promoters didn’t have to pay so

much for an artist, then the ticket

wouldn’t have to be so high and

we wouldn’t be relying on spon-

sorship, signage, beer and parking.

Is this where you start getting

nostalgic about the good old

days when it was all about the

music?

A Oh yeah, the good old days!

When I first started, I promoted a

couple of Widespread Panic dates

in California. I lost all the money

I had in the world on that show. I

couldn’t pay the cleaners, so I was

there after losing $8,000, cleaning

up the trash at 3 a.m.

What made you stay with it?

A Because when you start control-

ling your circumstances and can

get involved with upper-tier talent,

you can make money. When that

starts to happen, it’s awesome.

There’s only a certain amount

of people who are going to break

through to that level, though.

For us, we were at the right

place at the right time. If there’s

a young promoter in L.A. right

now trying to be the next

Goldenvoice or Avalon, it’s not

going to happen because every

time an artist gets past playing

the 500 seaters, you’re never

going to see them again.

What other changes affect

the way you view the concert

industry?

A It’s a tough business and I think

it’s even tougher going forward

because even promoters our size

THE BRAVO TEAM takes a breather with Jewel at the Sandy Point Beach Pavilionin Boise after a successful summer 2002 tour of the Northwest. L-R: Jeff Kicklighter,Creston Thornton, Jewel and Paul Thornton.

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are losing shows to Clear Channel

and AEG. That’s how the business

is right now. They have to make

their shareholders happy.

The business has changed and

not just on the Clear Channel

level. If I pass on some smaller

shows, someone who has never

done a show will buy it and will

take his trust fund money and

lose $50,000. The craziness exists

above us and below us.

There are tickets selling on

eBay for $6. When you can buy

tickets for a major act like Steely

Dan for $6, the concert business

is being ruined. The value of the

real ticket is completely gone.

To that fan, that show is now

worth $6. There’s nothing special

about that show anymore.

The market is flooded.

Do you agree artists have

to be the ones to initiate

a reduction in ticket price?

A Yes, and I think some artists

may be coming around. A good

example is the Korn/Limp Bizkit

tour playing smaller theatres.

But some bands are going to

have to see 3,000 people in that

10,000-seat venue before they

figure it out. The fans are not

buying tickets and the bands

are starting to see that. I would

assume that bands would want

to play in packed houses.

I’m seeing a shift to artists

doing multiple nights in smaller

venues. This is one reason why

we’re building more 1,500 seaters.

You can make money that way.

Even more, you can create a much

better experience than what you’d

get in a 5,000 to 10,000 seater.

There’s no comparison.

Is it up to the artist managers

to initiate a trend like that?

A I think the whole business

starts at management. It starts

with telling the artists the things

they don’t want to hear, like

what their tickets are really

worth. They have to confront the

economic reality and tell their

acts that if they want to look

beyond this moment in their ca-

reer, if they want to have a future

as a touring act, this is what you

have to do.

Artists are going to continue

to make less off of record sales.

They can make money touring

if they’re around for more than

a year or two. If they’re in it for

the quick buck, they’re going to

go out and crush people.

Whatever happened to a sold-

out theatre and a line around

the block? The bands are too

accessible. You need to develop

some excitement, develop the

fan base. Take less money and

cultivate those fans. Sometimes

that means development from

the beginning and sometimes it

means going back and reaching

out to new and old fans.

Maybe managers have to get

the artists to do a reality check

on the state of the business.

If you add up high ticket prices,

high guarantees, a saturated

market, less disposable income

and a mediocre concert

experience, it equals people

going to fewer concerts. That

affects everyone’s bottom line.

If you’re just looking at the

numbers, grosses are up this year,

but that’s because ticket prices

are through the roof. There are

actually fewer people going to

concerts. The number of tickets

is down.

If you look at the growth

of the concert business and the

number of acts that are going

out, the number of people going

to concerts should be way up,

but that’s not what’s happening.

Our country is not reality-

based anymore when it comes

to business plans. People don’t

seem to realize that it doesn’t

really matter what you’re worth

on paper because that can change

from one day to the next.

Our company has been

making a net profit every year.

Each year, I can say we’ve grown

this much on net profit and we

can track that.

I feel like we’re helping to con-

trol Bravo’s future by investing

in land, having

other LLC deals

and opening the

concert houses.

I hope we’re con-

trolling the mad-

ness by providing

some stability for

our corporation.

What other

steps are you

taking to control

the madness?

A We want to

be sure we’re

reaching consum-

ers without being

dependent on the

usual methods.

Local radio sta-

tions are going to lose

listenership and control because

of XM radio. Cars come wired for

media now and kids are going to

be watching the videos through

satellite radio. You’re not going to

be able to advertise on local me-

dia as effectively.

For example, if Clear Channel

starts losing radio control and

market share, that’s going to

impact their business.

So, we’re trying to do deals

with AOL and Hewlitt Packard

and others in order to jump

ahead and figure out how

to advertise through other

means.

We need to find out where

the dollar and the attention is

going. How do you advertise

your show if everyone’s listening

to XM Radio?

We have to get to the consumer

online.

Was that kind of marketing

what inspired you to start

a weekly paper in Boise?

A Sure. We started our own

newspaper here and we’re

going to start one in Spokane

to support the club.

Somewhere down the road,

if we can’t make a deal with Coke

or Pepsi, we’ll be buying cola mix

and making Big Easy cola.

I believe you can’t run a busi-

ness thinking there’s only one

way to do things. If you can’t

make a deal with the big players,

then go make your own product

and put your own label on it.

Ten years from now, Big Easy

cola could be one of the top three

sellers at 7-Eleven in this region.

Then I’ll have to sponsor some kid

who wants to open a concert club.

Where will we find you

10 years from now?

A My wife and I purchased

some land in Pine, Idaho, and

we’re going to build a cabin

so we can go fly fishing and

snowmobiling in our backyard.

It is really different up here.

You can go water skiing eight

minutes from our office. It stays

light here in the summer until

10:30 p.m., so you can leave the

office at 7 p.m. and still get in

three hours of lake time.

It would be great to still be

in the business 10 years from

now and in a position where

I don’t have to go back to

cleaning the floor.

I’d like to be able to spend some

time at the cabin with the kids.

Maybe, by that point, I’ll be able to

turn off my phone once in a while.

In the meantime, I’m hoping our

whole family gets to where we can

sleep through the night. *

THE JULY 5, 2003, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers showat the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse in Bozeman turned outto be the venue’s biggest gross to date. Thornton and theband share the moment with the venue’s Melanie Stocks,Bravo’s Jeff Kicklighter (far right) and the building’sDwayne Morris (L).