“Hit the Road Jack” Blog Tour – A Virtual Sit-Down With Pat DiCesare

In a million years, I would not expect to have a sit-down question and answer session with one of the greatest concert promoters in rock and roll history.

But thanks to the wonders of technology, I am honored to host a virtual sit-down with legendary concert promoter, author, and entrepreneur Pat DiCesare. On Monday, March 9th, Pat kicked off his “Hit the Road Jack” blog tour featuring his book Hard Days Hard Nights:  From the Beatles to the Doors to the Stones . . . Insider Stories from a Legendary Concert Promoter. Today I am thrilled to be part of Pat’s “road crew” for the tour.

So go put on some tunes and then pull up a chair. Get ready to listen in as I pick Pat’s brain and he shares with us some fascinating tales from his days in the music business.

Enjoy!

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What caused the British Invasion to become as successful as it did when the hometown boys like Frankie Valli, Bobby Rydell, Frankie Avalon, Fabian, etc. were already right here and popular in the US?

Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons began their rise to stardom, ironically on the same record label that just a couple of years later The Beatles would introduce their first American releases, VJ Records. VJ was a black label from Chicago and it is ironic that they would have two of their greatest artists be four white guys who wrote their own songs, played the instruments and sang. VJ had a five year arrangement to release all of the Beatles records lost the group when their $800 royalty check made payable to The Beatles bounced.

Other than the Beatles, Bobby Rydell, Frankie Avalon, Fabian etc came out of the 50’s. Their music wasn’t so well received by the more serious music listener. When the Beatles music was released, their first three releases weren’t well received. It wasn’t until Dec 27, 1963 when Capitol Records released The Beatles first LP in the US titled Meet The Beatles and the first song on the first side was I Want to Hold Your Hand. The only way you could get that song was to buy the LP. This was a brilliant marketing move at the time. The country went all out for The Beatles and Beatlemania took hold. Capitol Records sold 800,000 LP in ten days. That was unprecedented.

I think the reason that The Beatles were so successful was that they wrote, sang and performed such great music. They had the brilliance of George Martin as their record producer and Brian Epstein as their manager. I think without those two, they wouldn’t have made it as quickly and as big. They were different. Their hair was considered so long that many parents wouldn’t let their kids listen to their music. Their music was like nothing else being played at the time in the US. Their timing was right.

After The Beatles success, The Stones followed. The Beatles were saints compared to the bad boys Stones. With the success of these two British acts, American as well as British producers began bringing everyone to the attention of the American airwaves.

It should be understood that the English looked down upon American rock and roll music and thought we were all degenerates when it came to music. No one ever thought that British rock would take over in America. When it started it grew and we wanted more British rock. The Who, Led Zeppelin, and the Dave Clark Five were just a few of the many that would dominate.

What made the songwriting duo of John Lennon and Paul McCartney as powerful as it was?

These two will go down as the most prolific and successful songwriting duo of the last half of the last century. They were amazing and could write many of the songs in minutes and they would become hits. John and Paul could think and work together. That was something that George and Ringo were not privy to. John and Paul could remember a girl’s name or a street or an incident and write great lyrics and melody. I think Paul’s father was an influence on him and John was a poet.

What do you think of the recent collaborations between Paul McCartney and Kanye West and Rihanna?

There will never be anything like Lennon and McCartney.

Is there a concert you wish you had promoted but didn’t?

I never promoted Elvis or Frank Sinatra mainly because their managers did.

Why didn’t you?

Because of the greed of the act and the manager to make more money. I always disagreed with that because I could have gotten them the same money if I did the date or they did it. I would like to have promoted The Beatles at Shea Stadium. Sid Bernstein was the New York promoter at the time and he deserved that date.

What was your favorite concert to promote?

Bruce Springsteen at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

What was your least favorite concert to promote?

The Monsters of Rock Concert at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh,

Why?

Because we sold 65,000 tickets for the show. Bruce holds the record for the most seats sold at a concert. When the show was over, I owed him $750,000 and he said to” just send it in to the office on Monday.”  On the other hand with the Monsters of Rock, I lost $450,000 on that one show on that one day.

What were the Beatles like to work with – larger than life, down to earth? Or would you describe them in some other particular way?

There is no doubt today that the greatest show I ever booked was the Beatles. How I booked them is a great story. During this time the US was involved in a major war in Vietnam. It was every young man’s nightmare. The fear of being drafted and being sent to Vietnam was overwhelming and it divided our country at that time. But, I booked The Beatles in February 1964 for September 14, 1964 and on May 29^th I got drafted and had to go on active duty in the army. On the day of the show September 14, 1964 I was in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. I did, years later, book Paul McCartney, Ringo, and George individually. They were great to work with, easy going, not at all demanding. They just wanted to give their audience a great show.

What was the strangest interaction or scenario you encountered in your career as a concert promoter?

Carly Simon had a panic attack on the stage of a sold out show. We had to cancel the concert and give everyone a refund. She was OK afterwards.

What was the least strange interaction or scenario you encountered?

Every show was stressful and all I ever wanted was for the concert to be over and for it to be the next day. But even then, I would have another show lined up and I’d be wishing it was the next day. I realized I just kept wishing my life away. I booked every act there was and the people who gave me the least amount of problems were the adult artists like Lawrence Welk or Perry Como of Tony Bennett. They were grateful for whatever you did for them.

What would you say was the most important concert you promoted during your career?

Alice Cooper at Three Rivers Stadium on July 11, 1973. I originally had it scheduled a month before in June, but after I had everything setup  for the June concert, we ran into Hurricane Agnes and had to tear down the stage and all the other equipment and rescheduled it for the next month. It cost me a fortune. But what was great was that Alice wanted me to promote his first ballpark show. I put Peter Frampton and Uriah Heap on as support and sold the show out. Alice is one of the greatest performers even to this day.

Who would you name as the most genuinely talented artist you’ve come across?

It is very hard to answer that question. There are so many, but if I could manage any act today, I would say Bruce Springsteen would be a great choice.

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Pat DiCesare was among the top grossing concert productions companies in the nation.

He promoted just about every major concert act in the business in the last half of the 20th century including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Janis Joplin, Chicago, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Simon and Garfunkel, and the list goes on.

Currently, DiCesare is producing  “Relive The Beatles ’64.”

DiCesare’s best selling book, Hard Days, Hard Nights, From The Beatles to The Doors to The Stones…Insider Stories from a Legendary Concert Promoter, has won the 2014 Grand Prize at the Great Midwest Book Festival, the Runner Up in the 2014 So Cal Book Festival and was named the winner of the 2014 Independent book of the year.

Promoting You, his newest offering will be released soon.

To grab a copy of Pat’s book, Hard Days Hard Nights, visit Amazon.

To read more about Pat, visit his website and Amazon author page.

You can also catch up wit Pat on Facebook and Twitter.