Following is the response I received from a member of the Cary Town Council. At least they are accepting a portion of the blame and appear to be willing to take steps to insure that what happened, for the most part, won't happen again should Cary ever have the chance to host such an event in the future.

Dear Tammy,

Thank you for contacting me about the concert. I was at the concert and part of the backstage negotiations which led to the ending of the concert so I can tell you what I know. First, Rick French is not responsible for the abrupt ending to the show. He did the best job anyone could do to work through the conflict that arose.

The Koka Booth amphitheatre is adjacent to residential communities. Several years ago, the Town Council implemented a policy to limit the sound level of performances and to set a curfew on the venue of 11:00. We have a citizen hotline for neighbors and give sound meters to select residents to monitor noise levels. The Town staff that manages the Booth Amphitheatre take the Council's policies very seriously.

The concert was planned to end at 11:00, as agreed upon in the contract between the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Town. However, the concert began to run long. I believe that this might have been largely due to stage setup problems, but I am not certain. Sometime after Styx played, I was brought into a backstage conversation between Rick French, the Mayor, SMG (who programs the Booth) and our Town staff. The Town staff told Rick and SMG that the concert had to end at 11:00 and if it did not, the plug would be have to be pulled. French asked for an extension of an half an hour or so in which they would finish up the concert. At the time, it looked like Farner, Bruce and the encore still had to go on after the 11:00. I called the Town manager, Bill Coleman, and laid out the details and he agreed with me that the Mayor and I should make the decision (on behalf of the Town) to allow the concert to have the requested extension of an half hour or so.

When I got off the phone, I found Rick and the staff and notified him that they had an extension to about 11:30. I am partly to blame in what transpired for two reasons. First, I never asked to see a list of songs that each performer planned to do. Had I seen the list, I would have known that Bruce had too many songs to fit into the half hour. Second, when I conveyed the information to our staff, I apparently did not make it clear that the extension was a general extension and not a hard and steadfast "thirty minutes" as I later found out that they interpreted it to be.

As you know, Farner played four or so songs and then Bruce started his set. Several songs into his set, I saw the staff talking to Rick. I again joined the conversation and found out that Bruce's playlist had not been edited to fit into (or nearly into) the allotted timeframe. Our Director of Parks had returned to the Booth and was adamant that the concert had to end immediately (it was about 11:40). SMG recommended that the concert be completed acoustically, but there were not enough instruments to do that. I asked Rick to edit the concert's playlist to end relatively soon to assuage the Town staff so that they did not abruptly end the concert. Rick quickly reviewed the list and, as a compromise to the Town, eliminated four or five songs from Bruce's performance (having him jump directly to White Room) and cutting the encore from three or four songs (from what I could tell by glancing at Rick's copy of the playlist) to one song.

I understand, but do not know for sure, that there was to be a special guest for the encore songs. But, because the musicians immediately started to play The Who song after Bruce finished, there was not time for anyone else to get up on stage for the encore. I am very sorry for any responsibility that I have in the concert's hurried finish. At the time, it appeared to be an acceptable compromise between the Town staff and the Hall of Fame organizers. I recognize that the ending tarnished the concert and that those attending the concert were disappointed.

As a result of this issue, there will be actions taken by the Council in order to avoid similar problems in the future. First, we are looking to re-organize our staff so that venues are managed separately from parks. Venues such as the Booth Amphitheatre require different management than playing fields and community centers. Second, the Council will revisit our policy governing the Booth's curfew so that exceptions can be made for special concerts like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concert.

I hope the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Rick French and those attending the concert will forgive the Town, the Mayor and me for our part in causing the concert to end so abruptly.

Sincerely,
Jennifer

Wow what a royal ***********

So, as I understand it - the Mayor, town manager, and city council were overruled by the Director of Parks!!!

As we already discussed in the other thread, and as she confirms with the discussion of Jack's set, the math never worked on this...

Sigh. Sounds like the town understands that there is some serious raw egg on their face for ever hosting something like this again.

Yep! And it looks like there is plenty of egg to go around...

So......... let's make some omlets!

We had an awesome time at this show. Certainly, we were disappointed that some of the things that we were expecting didn't materialize. The reality is, we (the attendees) can't expect any more than apologies. It's clear that poor planning, unforeseen circumstances, and the KBA's decision not to break it's policy is responsible for what transpired on Saturday night.

I'm not one to hold a grudge and I'm not about to start now....


ROCK ON, ya'all!

Wow.

Thanks so much for writing that letter. Unfortunately her answer doesn't do much in helping us get another shot.