Concert crowd falls short of estimate

Web posted October 25, 2000

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By Justin Martin
Staff Writer

The James Brown concert held earlier this month at the Augusta-Richmond County Civic Center sold just 1,700 tickets, not the 3,000 previously reported.

Reggie Williams, general manager of the civic center, made no excuse for releasing inaccurate information the night of the concert.

James Brown performs at the Augusta Richmond County Civic Center. MICHAEL HOLAHAN/STAFF

``I'm more concerned with money than number of tickets sold,'' he said. ``I didn't look in the arena; I should have.''

Mr. Williams said he and others tried to persuade Mr. Brown to play on another night - there were three other concerts in Augusta that weekend - but Mr. Brown was intent on playing Augusta.

``I think he did it (the concert) as a dress rehearsal,'' Mr. Williams said, referring to Mr. Brown's world tour. Mr. Brown played to 27,000 in Atlanta and is now in Africa, where his show is purportedly drawing huge numbers.

``I can't figure Augusta out,'' Mr. Williams said. ``The crowd at his concert was 75 percent white. The next night, at the Lynx game, it was announced that Mr. Brown would not be performing the national anthem, and the crowd cheered. I can't figure it out.''

In other civic center business, the coliseum authority voted unanimously Tuesday morning to empower Sam Nicholson, the board attorney, to negotiate the return and full refund of the civic center's video scoreboard.

The board, purchased last year for $200,000, proved to be too small for use at Augusta Stallions arenafootball2 games.

Daktronics, the company that sold the video board to the authority, has offered to give the civic center $100,000 credit toward the purchase of a more appropriate scoreboard. Such a scoreboard would cost roughly $475,000. That, authority members say, is too much.

Authority board Chairman Bill Maddox and other board members, including David Bell and William Holden, say Daktronics misrepresented the usefulness of the $200,000 scoreboard when they sold it to the board.

Mr. Bell said the authority should consider legal action against Daktronics if the company does not give the authority a full refund for the scoreboard.

Reach Justin Martin at (706) 823-3552.

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