Antone's Nightclub
Poor Host
RECEIVED Tue., May 3, 2016
Dear Editor,
As a recent "attendee" of the supposed Levitation music festival, I felt that I should let the good people of Austin know how I (and thousands of others) feel about the last-minute hysterical cancelling of the long-planned event just a few hours before it was due to begin.
After months of planning and anticipating this world-class event, I arrived to find that a timid little man in a high office had decided to cancel it because it might rain (it rained for about 30 minutes). This left thousands of people from around the world stranded in Austin with no place to stay and no place to go. Many of us spent our hard-earned time off and money on this trip only to find that the host city was hostile to us and our type of music. That's right ... Austin invited us to visit, then slammed the door in our faces and ignored our plight. I met a couple who traveled from Turkey and had to sleep on the streets because no provision was made for campers. No hotel rooms were provided. No refunds. The few "make-up" concerts that were scheduled were sold out to local people before any of the out-of-towners could get tickets.
Austin should remove the motto "Live Music Capital of the World" from its moniker and add "Haughty Rude Hippie-Hating Capital" instead. I suspect that future promoters and artists will avoid Austin because of the callous way that this was handled. I know that I will avoid future events in Austin.
As a recent "attendee" of the supposed Levitation music festival, I felt that I should let the good people of Austin know how I (and thousands of others) feel about the last-minute hysterical cancelling of the long-planned event just a few hours before it was due to begin.
After months of planning and anticipating this world-class event, I arrived to find that a timid little man in a high office had decided to cancel it because it might rain (it rained for about 30 minutes). This left thousands of people from around the world stranded in Austin with no place to stay and no place to go. Many of us spent our hard-earned time off and money on this trip only to find that the host city was hostile to us and our type of music. That's right ... Austin invited us to visit, then slammed the door in our faces and ignored our plight. I met a couple who traveled from Turkey and had to sleep on the streets because no provision was made for campers. No hotel rooms were provided. No refunds. The few "make-up" concerts that were scheduled were sold out to local people before any of the out-of-towners could get tickets.
Austin should remove the motto "Live Music Capital of the World" from its moniker and add "Haughty Rude Hippie-Hating Capital" instead. I suspect that future promoters and artists will avoid Austin because of the callous way that this was handled. I know that I will avoid future events in Austin.
David Gilbert