Rochester, N.Y. – Friday afternoon, Bill Clinton appears at the Main St. Armory to expected big crowds. Earlier in the week, it was Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson – and the Armory is apologizing to the large crowd that was there.
In a statement on its Facebook page, the Armory says it has received many complaints about long lines and overcrowding. Fans waited in long lines to simply get in the building, in some cases for more than an hour. The Armory blames a “combination of errors,” mostly due to miscommunication over set-up time and the size of Rob Zombie’s stage. It says at one point, the head of production for Rob Zombie even attempted to cancel the concert.
The Main Street Armory’s Facebook posting reads:
“We have been receiving a fair amount of complaints concerning the Twins of Evil tour that took place Tuesday 10-16-12. Long wait lines and over occupancy seem to be the main concerns. Most blame has been pointed in our direction, but these issues aren’t our fault and are instead a combination of errors.
As many people may have heard Rob Zombie said, “the stage is too small.” The truth is, according to their production the stage was the correct size. We received their production layout months in advance and made the stage to their specifications, which was 60’ wide by 40’ deep. The actual problem was that they needed 3 steel trusses to hang their assorted equipment from. This aspect was not detailed in their production layout, and never in 7 years of hosting events have we been asked to accommodate three trusses for rigging. We set the stage to provide them with two. When they arrived Tuesday morning, their head of production told us that this was an issue and attempted to cancel the show. We offered to move the stage forward, so they could have 3 trusses available, but the fire marshall determined that moving the stage that far forward would cause occupancy issues. It was then decided that we would go forward with the show without the extra props considering it was close to a sold out show. Their head of production then found fault in our stage saying it wasn’t stable enough and wanted to cancel the show again.
We have had some amazing national touring acts and have never had an issue with staging. But again we offered to accommodate their wishes by bringing a palette of plywood sheets and securing them to the entire decking of the stage. The head of production was unsure if the plywood secured to the decking would solve the issues and wanted to consult with the head rigger. Instead of quickly giving an assessment and response, he waited hours before giving the ok. Because of his lack of a timely decision, setup was pushed back past the opening of doors. Production didn’t want the doors open until they had finished their stage setup, which resulted in a long wait for the fans.
Opening the doors on a timely matter is crucial for our venue. We have done crowds just as large without any issues. When opened on time, we get people in quickly and efficiently. Unfortunately, these circumstances made this impossible and for that we are sorry. We are currently making other adjustments to make our venue more accommodating. We will be removing the balcony behind the stage to allow for our third truss to be accessed and to allow the stage to be moved back further. These adjustments will allow such giant productions as Rob Zombie’s to have no issues in the future, as well as make more standing room for those of you in the crowd.
We deeply apologize for any issues that may have occurred to you, or your accompanied guests. We will continue to listen to your concerns and devote time to resolving any current and future issues. We hope to have your continued business and promise to continue to bring some of the best national touring acts to our hometown of Rochester.”
