MINNEAPOLIS — When the gates opened for the first-ever TC Summer Fest this afternoon, the sun was out, the lineup promised rockstars, but the ticket outlook for both today and tomorrow was still less than stellar.
The two-night rock concert series headlined by The Killers and Imagine Dragons drew thousands but didn't quite fulfill Target Field's capacity.
Matt Hodson, spokesperson for the Twins, said the organization is expecting attendance to reach the mid-to-upper 20,000 range.
As for capacity?
"We're looking in the anywhere from 36,000 to 38,000 range," he said.
Jay Boller, editor for Racket, pointed out even longtime festivals like the Basilica Block Party and Rock the Garden have ended their runs recently.
"To launch a new festival is kind of like launching any new thing, where getting brand exposure is tough," said Boller.
"The broader kind of underpinning is that there are two monolithic concert promotion companies. LiveNation and AEG." he added.
TC Summer Fest marks one of the first concerts at Target Field that hasn't used those two giants for promotion.
"It's certainly different. We were fortunate to have some wonderful partners here, 555 events, that for years put on summer jam festivals in the Shakopee area," said Hodson.
But it took longer for local promoters to lock in the lineup, which gave the Twins less time to promote the festival, which led them to cut ticket prices in half in the last week.
"Anywhere from around $45 for tonight to the mid $30's for tomorrow," said Hodson.
Though the sudden price reduction didn't sit well with early buyers, Boller said it may help. especially at a time when big acts like Taylor Swift and Beyonce are pricing some out.
"The ticket prices have gotten just so incredibly out of control that, say a family or a couple used to go to 15 concerts a year, budget-wise, maybe you've got to start budgeting for one or two, and then that really narrows the field," added Boller.
"It seems like something we should be able to pull off and hopefully can pull off," he added.
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