ST. LOUIS • The city has canceled its agreement with a Los Angeles talent agency to produce concerts after the company failed to pull off either of its promised events this year.
Los Angeles-based ICM Partners, which represents some of the biggest names in music, last year was granted exclusive access to the Gateway Mall over Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends to produce “world-class outdoor high-quality music festivals” under the “Summer Rocks” moniker.
The city signed a contract with the company that included a 10-year reservation agreement. Some complained that the city’s action would push other events out of downtown, and some, including Budweiser St. Louis Ribfest, did relocate.
Mary Ellen Ponder, chief of staff to Mayor Francis Slay, said Friday that the company had paid the city $50,000 for its failure to produce this year’s two concerts, as required by the contract. The cancellation was mutually agreed upon.
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“This ambitious endeavor did not come to fruition despite our best efforts, but the city took in fees that far exceeded the time and effort spent pursuing it,” Ponder said in a statement. “We will continue to seek out opportunities that will bring St. Louis the type of world-class music experience that it deserves.”
Officials at ICM Partners could not be reached for comment Friday.
The company had said it hoped to lure big name talent and visitors from throughout the Midwest to downtown St. Louis for the festivals. City officials had envisioned an event on the scale of Lollapalooza in Chicago, a music festival that has brought millions of dollars and visitors to the city’s Grant Park.
While a top name in the talent business, ICM Partners has never produced concerts. The proposed St. Louis event would have been be the company’s first.
St. Louis Alderman Jack Coatar, who represents downtown, said Friday that he was relieved the contract was ended.
“This is a company that has no track record for hosting concerts,” he said. “I don’t know why we entered into this agreement in the first place.”
With the cancellation of the contract, he said, “I think we’ll have ample opportunity to bring new events downtown.”
The Summer Rocks contract includes a noncompete clause banning new, substantially similar for-profit events in the city throughout the summer. The contract forced organizers of Budweiser St. Louis Ribfest to move from the Soldiers Memorial area to St. Charles’ New Town development this year.
“I was there [downtown] in 2014 and had a great first run,” Ribfest Director Mike Calvin said Friday. “I wanted to stay downtown, but I had to try an alternative” in 2015 because of the ICM contract.
Calvin said the St. Charles event went well, and he is contracted to hold Ribfest there again for Memorial Day 2016. After that, he said, he would be open to discussing a return to downtown. “I am open to looking at anything.”
Bluesweek canceled its event entirely for 2015, but officials have said they plan to bring the event back to downtown next year.
The fast-growing LouFest in Forest Park was not affected by the ICM Partners contract.
Kevin McDermott of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
