Oliver Anthony, a country sensation, decided to cancel a performance in Knoxville after the bar where he was scheduled to perform raised ticket prices.
Anthony became famous last month when his song, “Rich Men North of Richmond”, a political song that went viral.
The musician apologized for the Cotton Eyed Joe price on his Facebook page. I have a friend who is trying to book gigs for me. I told him that I didn’t want anything more than $40 per ticket and ideally, no more than $25.
“These are supposed to be affordable shows.” “Please do not pay $90 per ticket.” “I’m going to work out the details and if it means rescheduling this event, we will do that,” wrote the singer.
It’s horses— they charge extra for VIP meet-and-greet. These are supposed to be included in the ticket price. I will sort this out as soon as possible. “Don’t buy any tickets before then,” he said in the comments.
The Virginia native updated his social media followers the next day. He addressed claims made by the establishment (and then allegedly deleted) that Anthony charged $120,000 for a performance at the bar. This was reflected in the ticket prices.
Cotton Eyed Joe says we charge people $120,000 for a show. The comments have been turned off but I wanted to clarify. The highest I’ve made from a show was $35,000. Anthony said, “We’ve done free shows in NC and another one is scheduled for September 23rd at a cancer charity in Kentucky.”
My booking guy took care of all this over the phone. Every story has two sides. Cotton Eyed Joe and I spoke on the phone to discuss not charging for a meet and greet. It was because of this that I was upset to see them charge $200 for the meet and greet. “I felt they tricked us into playing just to make more money off of you,” he said.
The musician, however, said that he has no grudge against the bar and wrote, “I wish them all the best.”
“I am the only one to blame.” I should have involved myself more in the booking and perhaps even considered using a professional consultant. He said that there was no reason for tickets to be sold before a contract had been signed.
“The good news is we have already found multiple other options for $25 admission venues in Knoxville that can accommodate more people, the same week this show was scheduled for. We will still be having a good time in Knoxville soon.”
Anthony revealed that he had booked an appearance at the Knoxville Convention Center for Sept. 29, just two days after he performed his first performance.
Anthony’s representative did not respond to our comment request immediately.
