By Neale Gulley<br><a href="mailto:gulleyn@gnnewspaper.com">E-mail Neale</a>
If Labatt Blue USA ever works with a promoter handling concerts in North Tonawanda again, it won’t be with Concerts Plus of WNY, the company’s President Glen Walter said.
The international brewer, whose U.S. office is based in Buffalo, cut all sponsorship ties with the former Labatt Blue Light Canal Concert Series on Wednesday, in the wake of a decision by the New York State Liquor Authority to cancel a temporary permit required to sell alcohol at the event.
“This is not one of those situations where somebody says ‘it will never happen again,’ “ Walter said. “There is no such thing as a second shot. When you violate it, we have no interest in doing business with you ever again.”
He said the Buffalo area represents the beer maker’s biggest market in the United States, and that the problem has nothing to do with outdoor concerts or the Gateway Harbor Park venue, but rather the handling of alcohol sales.
“Outdoor music concerts are not the problem ... anybody, if they are not capable of upholding those laws, we will not do business with them,” he said. “The people who violated New York state law and our own unwavering policy on underage drinking, we have no interest in doing business with ever again.”
It was determined this week that the remaining three shows could no longer be offered for free as the loss in potential beer sales mean the show’s backers will struggle to recoup heavy losses.
Organizers now must move the location of two more shows, or else continue booking them at Buffalo’s Town Ballroom, where admission for this Saturday’s scheduled performance by Bruce Hornsby is already running with a ticket price of $20.
