The big gay Super Bowl concert planned for the Cotton Bowl on Thursday night has been canceled due to poor ticket sales, according to Ariana Hajibashi, publicist for the now-two-night XLV Party.
Hajibashi said only 13 tickets had been sold for Thursday night’s concert featuring Lady Bunny, the Village People and Cazwell, which was marketed specifically to the LGBT community.
“Our Friday and Saturday are packed, but Thursday didn’t sell anything,” Hajibashi said. “I understand that everybody in Dallas is a last-minute ticket buyer, but unfortunately with only 13 tickets sold four days out, we couldn’t invest an additional $100,000 dollars. We couldn’t have a 6,000-square-foot space with 100 people in it. It kind of makes us sad because we were really trying to do an event for the GLBT community. Everybody else is focused on the sports angle and things like that, so we’re disappointed that we didn’t get any attention.”
Hajibashi said cold weather had nothing to do with the cancellation, because the tent over the Cotton Bowl will be heated. She said organizers thought they had a great lineup that would appeal to the gay community.
The XLV Party is still on for Friday and Saturday nights, and tickets are now as low as $59 per night for a limited time. As we mentioned earlier, Outtakes Dallas is giving away tickets.
A full press release is after the jump.
XLV Party starts FRIDAY, offerING the most entertainment at the best price
Dallas’ biggest event brings 2 nights of parties to the Cotton Bowl, with tickets starting at just $59
DALLAS, TX (January 31, 2011) – As we gear up for the Big Game, XLV Party will host guests to Belvedere Vodka and Moet & Chandon Champagne’s red carpet events with two nights of parties beginning this Friday, February 4th. XLV Party has taken over the Cotton Bowl field, transforming it into a tented party space to accommodate thousands of revelers over the weekend. While other parties are charging upwards of $500 for tickets, XLV Party remains the most affordable party in town, with tickets starting at just $59.
Eschewing the standard club or event space for something truly unique, XLV Party offers attendees a chance to mingle with celebrities and athletes while enjoying music from some of the hottest stars in the entertainment world, all while partying on the field of the historic Cotton Bowl in Fair Park.
“With the ultimate sporting event happening in North Texas, Dallasites and visitors to the city deserve the ultimate party,” said Jason Hutchins, President of XLV Party. “People could spend $500 or more to stand around in a stuffy club and gawk at celebrities behind VIP ropes, but we’re offering something different. XLV Party attendees can eat, drink and dance on the Cotton Bowl field with thousands of other partiers as world-class bands, DJs and hosts provide the entertainment, and all that’s available for as low as $59. No other Super Bowl party in Dallas offers this much entertainment at such an affordable price.”
XLV Party is also announcing additions to its star-studded entertainment lineup, which already includes great acts like Passion Pit, Chiddy Bang and renowned Roger Taylor of Duran Duran. Famous Sam Ronson will appear at Saturday’s festivities with the addition of two Playboy Playmates, Teri Rose and Shannon Stewart, as hosts.
XLV Party begins on Friday, February 4 and will run through Saturday, February 5, 2011. The schedule is as follows:
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4
• For music enthusiasts around the globe, Roger Taylor requires no introduction. Best known as Duran Duran’s drummer, Taylor will deliver scintillating DJ sets that will keep the dance floors pumping. English singer-songwriter and disc jockey, Sam Ronson and electro-pop group Passion Pit also will perform a DJ set, taking its perfectionist pop vision to a whole new level. Your body and your mind will continue to be stimulated as Lance Herbstrong rocks the house along with electro hip hop brand from Chicago, Na Palm.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5
• American alternative hip hop band from Philadelphia, Chiddy Bang, will perform during Saturday night’s soiree. Along with official Beastie Boys cover band, Rhymin & Stealin, DJ Martinson and DJ Pullano will have everyone dancing. Texas alternative rockers Exit 380 will complete the spectacular evening’s entertainment.
All events will take place on the field of the Cotton Bowl at Fair Park, located at 1300 Robert B. Cullum Blvd., Dallas, Texas 75210. Tickets are on sale now for as low as $59. To purchase tickets or to get more information about the parties, visit www.xlvparty.com.
Well I just read this on facebook which was posted by another person and that person made an excellent point with this article…”Maybe advertising could have been their problem….I never even heard about this concert…” Same here, I certainly haven’t heard of it either. I have a lot of friends (gay as I myself am too) and they have been making all kinds of noise regarding the Super Bowl and how they cant wait…I’m pretty sure they haven’t heard of this either otherwise I would have heard of it through them, the real Super Bowl fans. I agree when they say its “sad” but more on their part because they clearly didnt know what they were doing although it was a great idea.
It might have helped to advertise the event? This is the first that we have heard of it….
never heard of it either……….
Same here….this is the first I have heard of it.
Poor planning, not homophobia. They are very nice people and have been extremely pleasant to deal with the entire time. Since I had actually purchased tickets for Thursday, I just spoke with Jason BestDFW Events. He offered two for one ticket exchange to another nite or an immediate refund which showed up in my inbox as we spoke.
Ditto! This is the first i have heard of it as well.
Maybe the Super Bowl people should have worked WITH the LGBT community. The Cedar Springs merchants are putting on an event that they cannot call a Super Bowl event but it will attract thousands on Saturday night and be larger than many of the official Super Bowl events.
They should have cancelled it sooner so we could have all heard about it!
Hadn’t heard one word about it… really bad marketing.
All these events are EXTREMELY expensive…no offense to the line up but if I had only enough money to attend one event this weekend, I wouldn’t choose that one…sometimes gay quantity doesn’t equal gay quality
Very Poor Advertizing. I just learned about it last weekend. I figured being at the Cotton Bowl I didn’t want to freeze my ass off. Never heard of any tent over the stadium!!!!! This will be like the Block Party planned for this Saturday on Cedar Springs. Blocking off the street for what? Do these people know its deep into Winter? Or is it Dallas Tavern Guild Trying to make a buck again?
Everyone is welcome at The Cedar Springs Super Street Party this Saturday (Feb. 5th 7pm-1am). We will have Chaz Marie on the Bud Light Main Stage and multiple guest DJs all night. Cedar Springs Road will be closed from Reagan to Throckmorton. There will be multiple beer booths outside on the street and all of the clubs will be hopping. Gay Athlete of the Year, Michael Holtz, will hostthe evening. And the best part…. this event is FREE!! Rain or Shine…We’re Taking this Party to the Street…
First off, the party has been advertising EVERYWHERE not to mention the five stories on Dallas Voice, three on Gay List Daily, ads in the Dallas Voice, Dallas Morning News, Quick, everything!!! Steve Kemble was the host and DIFFA was the beneficiary. Kemble has been talking about it on air, it’s been on every single TV station multiple times, facebook, twitter, the works!!!!!
Well I live in Oak Lawn and I haven’t seen a thing there…the Super Street Party has been advertising EVERYWHERE in the community….flyers, posters, facebook…even the employees at Hunky’s have on Tshirts…only mention I’ve see in media is on Dallas Voice but how many people read the paper on a daily basis? There definitely should have been a social media blitz b/c that’s the only way most of us find out anything going on in Dallas.
pants on the ground…tent on the ground, too
So sad. I looked forward to Lena Katina’s concert.
Yes I agree about having heard about the street party! But never heard anything till last week about the event at the Cotton Bowl. Also $59 for the event and then parking? Besides they could of picked a better location for the event other than tent in the middle of winter. Now that the tent has fallen Im thankful it happened before anyone got inside. TENTS AND WINTER/HIGH WINDS DON”T MIX !!!
1st of all – Poor advertising. 2nd – Gays don’t do outdoor concerts in February – Hello?
The problem is both promotion and line-up. How many damned times to we want to re-cycle and serve The Village People up to the gay community?; particularly today’s contemporary/modern gay community? Dallas’ gay scene always seems so hopelessly stuck in the early 80s or something. And is so terribly sedate, watered-down, and limited. We really need to model ourselves and the level of entertainment we provide after other gay destinations (i.e. Atlanta, Miami, etc.). Get so embarassed when all my friends come here to visit and complain. Get with it Dallas! There’s too many queens here not to!
No…you know what is wrong….closed minded Dallas lemming queens who refuse to venture outside Oak Lawn. You complain about recycled celebrities, but you all frequent the same bars and praise drag queens that have been performing the same act just as long as those your just criticized. You whine about cost and parking and how far the events are from the gayborhood. It’s the first ever Superbowl in Dallas….crawl out from under your rock and experience it. The world does NOT revolve around the gay bars on Cedar Springs. There are hundreds of interesting parties, charity events and concerts going on right now that WILL NOT come to YOU. Why complain…participate.
Why would they not have the concert in the gayborhood on the street? Put a stage on one end of Cedar Springs and watch the crowd flock! I was interested in going until I read it was at the Cotton Bowl, blah.
Why are people so afraid to leave the gayborhood? Why not have an event at the Cotton Bowl? LGBT live everywhere in DFW…why do we continue to pigeon hole ourselves into this small portion of the city? I live in Oak Lawn and I love community events but we need to stop hiding. We have so much to offer this city and we’re only segregating ourselves when we expect the world to come to us.
I have no problem going anywhere in Dallas to a event. But I do have a problem being in a tent in the middle of winter. There are so many you can put in a tent and being safe. Im sure they had some kinda heaters planned, But to me thats a death trap waiting to happen. I would of liked of seen Lady Bunnie but so many times seeing the Village people its like a broken record. So many groups and awesome DJs like Tiesto would of packed the places. Sample would be the White Party in Miami. People from all over the US plan way in advance to go. Booking Hotels and flights,etc. Way to do Dallas.
Kinda ugly comments about the “Bars on Cedar Springs”. Really not necessary. We know Cedar Springs is not the newest and freshest hot spot in Dallas, we know that gays are now more welcome anyhwhere we wish to go, and the glitz and glitter of Knox Henderson, West Village, et all have for the time being left Cedar Springs merchants scrambling to keep up. Retail is really hurting due to the loss of the “gayborhood” as the common place to live, dine,and shop. We get that, and we adapt. The economy is still hurting, we have empty storefronts, parking can be difficult, BUT The Cedar Springs Merchants Assoc. is working hard to bring in new businesses, clean up the street, beautify the neighborhood, and keep Oak Lawn safe for our customers BOTH straight and gay, to come and have a good time. Tired? I think not.
Significant beautification has already started. Results are already evident, and we have a lot more planned. Our City Counsel just gave millions to Lower Greenville and Bishop Square for improvements. NOT because the CSMA had not long sense been pushing for that same money and improvements, but
because our counselmenbers chose to give that money to the other two districts. Cedar Springs is ALIVE and thriving, but it can and will be better. Contact
your counselmenbers and remind them that Oak Lawn/Cedar Springs is a huge economic producer in Dallas. We should NOT be overlooked as the gay stepchild, but deserve to have city funds put back into what the City of Dallas and TABC so richly enjoy taking our tax money and ignoring us. If you CARE about Cedar Springs, help us make the improvements! Join us tonight for the Super Street Party on Cedar Springs. Watch the Super Bowl with us on Sunday!
Too bad this winter mess has caused all this havoc. I haven’t heard about the concert, and probably wouldn’t have gone anyhow. But I am looking forward to being in Barranquillia, Colombia for Carnival! Now that’s the kind of celebration that gets me out to have fun! If any readers will be in visiting for carnival, reply back
Pitbull said it best in his comment above and I have been saying the same thing for years now . Dallas DOES indeed no how to put on events, but for some reason, it just doesn’t happen. The powers-that-be in the Oak Lawn area (ie: Dallas Tavern Guild, Caven Enterprises, The Merchants Group) know exactly what it takes to put on events that will attract crowds, similar to Miami’s White Party, or events similar to what they do in San Francisco or in New York. I’ve questioned some of the Oak Lawn officials above about this and it’s always the same thing—too expensive, not in the budget, or all of our proceeds go to the beneficiarites and community charites. Well I think that story gets real old after a while. If you put on a good event in a good venue (and not a tent at The Cotton Bowl in sub-freezing weather), then the crowds will come. The Village People event could have been handled much better with more advertising and a current dance-oriented artist on the bill as well, something old-school and something current, because yes, you can’t keep shoving The Village People at the gay comuunity, with no current acts for the younger crowds as well. This is what they do in New York, SF, Los Angeles and Miami, with a nice mix for everyone, a good venue and PROMOTION AND ADVERTIXING EVERYWHERE!!!!! Just google these other cities gay websites and you will see exactly what I’m talking about. C’mon Dallas, wake up and let’s start showing all the other gay cities that we knkow how to party, besides Haolloween and Gay Pride. The Dallas Purple Foundation is probably the only organziation in this city that knows how to do it right and the Oak Lawn Merchants and organzations should take example from that.
I think there were three problems here, the foremost is that the SuperBowl and its surrounding events have never been marketed to an LGBT audience before. I appreciate the attempt to reach out and have this event, but the LGBT audience doesn’t really look for these events – most of us say “SuperWhat?” There’s plenty of sports fans in the LGBT community, but I don’t feel the organizers did a good job of marketing the party. It was also on a strange night. i don’t think the location was a problem, plenty of use go out to Fair Park for other concerts.
Second, The acts. I don’t think that any of the acts on the bill had widespread appeal. Especially Cazwell, who’s mainly known for You Tube videos, not music. The Village People are like the Beach Boys, who knows who’s actually in that band any more. I think more people would have flocked to see a full concert from Duran Duran, or find a diva. It would have been a coup to get Kylie Minouge to kick off her US tour here. The band the street party had was nice, but when the dance hits came on in the intermissions, the street got more active. We want mainstream acts, but we’d rather have Beyonce than Kid Rock. The challenge is understanding that The Gossip would have been better than Cazwell.
Third, weather. This hurt the attendance at the street festival too, though the clubs around were packed, very few stayed to party on the street. Even if tickets were sold, I don’t think many locals would have gone out on Thursday.
All in all I hope that the Super Bowl promoters don’t give up on courting the LGBT audience. I think we want to be a part of the big picture, and we love celebrities! The challenge is letting us know that we are invited to participate in an event that we usually feel excluded from, or don’t follow. You can’t just make it an add on to the larger event, but actually work with the community to draw us into it.
I have to Disagree with DTG, Caven knowing how to put events on. DTG were behind the big New Years Eve Party that every year was in a wearhouse in the 90s. $35 till they jumped to $175. Each year the prices doubled and had less appeal.(ENDED). Razzle Rizzle ended the same.. Every year I have been in the Pride parade, The fee’s have tripled in the past 3 years/ Last Yr $375 to ride down 5 blocks. They have even lowered how many entrees. Use to have 100+. Last year they limited to 85 and they had to extend the due date because entrees were not coming in. Caven seems like all they care about is making money for themselfs. This is why Round Up is so popular. Michael You made some great comments, I have to agree with you.