Ryan Cormier

The News Journal

In retrospect, the hints of a brewing partnership between Firefly Music Festival and the creators of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival swirled around The Woodlands in Dover three months ago.

As the festival's third year kicked off, the heads of Goldenvoice, which founded Coachella in Indio, California, in 1999, were prowling the 300-acre festival site, seeing firsthand what Firefly creators Red Frog Events had created in the heart of Delaware.

In addition to the under-the-radar appearance of Goldenvoice's president/chief executive officer Paul Tollett and chief operating officer Skip Page, there was something else in the air -- literally.

Just like what Coachella festival-goers have famously faced in the past, mini dust storms created by 80,000 music fans trampling across the Firefly grounds forced fans to wrap bandannas around their faces to breathe, with many joking that it felt like they were at Coachella instead of Firefly.

In the end, the Goldenvoice group liked what they saw that weekend, leading to the announcement earlier this month that the experienced, heavyweight promoters would partner with Red Frog, first-time music festival organizers.

In interviews with The News Journal, Firefly Music Festival Director Greg Bostrom and Dover International Speedway Chief Operating Officer Mike Tatoian laid out some of the effects of the partnership with Goldenvoice, which is owned by the deep-pocketed AEG entertainment promotion company, which is second in size only to Live Nation.

-- As soon as 2016, Firefly could expand to two weekends, following a trend among the larger U.S. rock festivals. "Our collective hopes are not if, but when. Having Goldenvoice on board accelerates those discussions," Tatoian says. It's unclear if the weekends would be back-to-back or at different times of the year. Bostrom says 2016 is a possibility for the expansion, but it's more likely to happen sometime after that.

-- Part of Goldenvoice's commitment hinged on extending the festival's lease with Dover International Speedway to be the exclusive music festival of The Woodlands. The 10-year lease signed during the 2013 festival was extended in recent weeks to 2032.

-- Having well-funded and well-connected partners like Tollett and Goldenvoice should accelerate Firefly's ability to land even bigger musical acts and sponsors. Goldenvoice is able to offer artists and companies coverage in a second market on another coast via Firefly, already one of the largest rock festivals in the East. While Firefly has landed A-List acts like the Foo Fighters, The Black Keys and Tom Petty already, it has yet to match mega-bookings of Coachella and Bonnaroo. Those festivals have been able to lure beloved bands out of retirement and also orchestrate super jams that pair stars from various acts for a special one-time performance. "If there is an offer going out to an act for Coachella, they can partner that with a Firefly offer now. There's a lot of benefit to going in there as one big offer," Bostrom says. "If there's anyone who can pull a band out of retirement and get the big act, it's been Coachella, so we can only benefit from having them on our side."

-- With a firm commitment to keeping the festival in Dover at The Woodlands, Firefly and Goldenvoice are pushing to add more permanent infrastructure to the site, which could include its massive stages. Firefly has already made long-term investments on the property, including installing wells, adding permanent power sources, building roads and boasting internet and cellphone coverage on site.

"We're thrilled by this announcement," says Gov. Jack Markell, who attended three days of Firefly in June with his wife and son and was especially wowed by Twenty One Pilots and Iron & Wine. "It's a new world ... it's great not only for music lovers in Delaware, but for all the hotels, motels, gas stations and everybody else."

Firefly's inaugural festival in 2012 had an economic impact of $12 million, according to state officials. A detailed study of its current economic impact was commissioned in May and should be released by the end of the year by the Delaware Tourism Office.

The announcement of the Goldenvoice/Firefly partnership was first made Sept. 17 in a rare Billboard magazine interview with Tollett and Chicago-based Red Frog Events founder and co-CEO Joe Reynolds. Both Tollett and Reynolds declined to be interviewed by The News Journal.

Goldenvoice will help Firefly with everything from investments and booking to promoting and sponsorships. The festival will continue to be booked primary by Nashville-based Integrity Events Inc., with input from both Red Frog and now Goldenvoice.

The possibility of Firefly doubling to two weekends would follow a growing trend in the festival industry. In 2012, Coachella doubled to two weekends and earlier this year, the Austin City Limits Festival in Austin, Texas, did the same.

But there are pitfalls if a festival tries to expand too quickly. Sasquatch! Music Festival in Washington announced last year it would double in size and be held across two non-consecutive weekends, but was forced canceled the second weekend after soft sales. Miami's Ultra Music Festival expanded to two weekends in 2013, but returned to a single weekend format this year.

Next year's fourth edition of Firefly is scheduled for June 18-21. Pre-sale four-day tickets have sold out. Tickets will go back on sale as the festival nears.

And fear not. Firefly will not become "Coachella East" thanks to the partnership, Bostrom promises. Firefly's established brand and feel, which have served it well growing from 35,000 people in 2012 to 80,000 this summer, will remain intact.

"Goldenvoice wants Firefly to say what it is. We became successful because Firefly has its own identity. They want us to keep doing what we're doing," Bostrom says.

Gary Bongiovanni, editor of Pollstar, the national trade journal of the concert industry, says the Goldenvoice/Firefly combination should serve the Delaware-born festival well.

"I think it's a great sign. The site is proving itself and that's the key," he says. "Goldenvoice is certainly well-equipped to take Firefly into the future and it has all the financial resources needed to make sure that happens. It's owned by a billionaire [Philip Anschutz], so they can do things.

"Maybe this is a way for [Red Frog] to get some of its money back from their original investment in the festival. It also secures its future moving forward."

Goldenvoice still produces Coachella. It also produces or supports several other festivals across the country, including Indio's country-themed Stagecoach Festival, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and FYF Fest in Los Angeles.

Even though Coachella -- to be held April 11-13 and 17-19 in 2015 -- is more than six months away, its partnership with Firefly is most likely already factoring into artist bookings and negotiations.

"Paul is busy booking Coachella right now and he knows who is going to be out and working," Bongiovanni says. "At the same time, he can now talk about Firefly. He can bring that discussion to a lot of different acts early in their tour planning."

Tatoian says the speedway welcomes Firefly's push to add more permanent infrastructure, as long as it doesn't interfere with the speedway's ability to use the property for race weekend RV parking.

So far, there have been no such conflicts and none are foreseen, he says. It would also not affect the ability of the site to host Punkin Chunkin, which moves to The Woodlands from Bridgeville next month when it kicks off its 28th year Oct. 24. If Firefly installs permanent stages in the future, they could also be used for Punkin Chunkin, Bostrom says.

The investment in permanent facilities will be mostly paid for by the festival organizers with the speedway kicking in funds for improvements that could be also used on race weekends, like improved lighting, permanent fencing and bathrooms, Tatoian adds.

Combined with Firefly's new, well-funded backers and the new lease, which locks Firefly in at The Woodlands for 18 more years, the festival's commitment to Delaware has reached new levels.

"Permanent means permanent and they wouldn't do that if they weren't committed to a long-term future here," Tatoian says.

Sean Hoag, 40, of North Wilmington, attended the first two Firefly festivals, missing last year's due to his son's 10th birthday. A second full weekend of Firefly would solve his now-annual conflict, pitting his love for live music against his love for family.

And the new lease through 2032 means his son could follow in his Firefly footsteps. "2032? That's going to last longer than most wars," Hoag jokes upon hearing the news of the contract extension.

"If they did two weekends, we could maybe do one day on one weekend and come back and completely commit for the entire second weekend," says Hoag, a facility manager at a surgery center in Elkton, Maryland, who remembers how hard it was to find quality national acts playing in the state during his childhood. "These are exciting times in Delaware."

-- Ryan Cormier, The News Journal. Facebook: @ryancormier. Twitter: @ryancormier. Instagram: @ryancormier.



