Bill Would Limit Festival Seating Sponsors Want Reserved Seats For Indoor Concert Safety

It would be a crime to put on an indoor concert for more than 2,000 people without reserved seats under legislation proposed by two Boise lawmakers.

The measure would ban so-called “festival seating,” wherein concert patrons find their seats after they arrive or even just mill about on a giant dance floor. Exceptions would be granted for concerts sponsored by schools or religious organizations.

Reps. Julie Ellsworth and Debbie Field, both Boise Republicans, said they think non-reserved seating creates an unsafe environment, particularly at rock concerts attended by youngsters.

“This problem has blind-sided communities across the nation,” said Ellsworth.

Said Field, “There’s been obviously enough injuries that parents are crying out for something.”

Managers of Idaho’s biggest concert halls, however, were puzzled.

“That is very surprising, because I don’t know that Idaho has a history of festival seating problems,” said Bob Beals, manager of the Kibbie Dome at the University of Idaho in Moscow.

The university’s annual jazz festival doesn’t use reserved seating, Beals said, but it probably would fall under the bill’s exemption for school-sponsored events.

“It may not affect us currently, but it could for future dates or events,” he said.

Boise State University’s Pavilion hosts 20 to 25 concerts a year. Festival-seating events are fairly rare, but a sold-out one last spring featuring Bush, the Goo Goo Dolls and No Doubt “went off really without a hitch,” said Charlie Spencer, general manager. He credited the Pavilion’s heavy security.

Security officers quickly stopped concertgoers who tried to “crowd surf,” diving across the top of the crowd, he said. “We did end up having to eject a few people, but not a significant number.”

But Field and Ellsworth said that show prompted parents to organize. A news account of the concert said injuries sent two of the nearly 12,000 concertgoers to the hospital, one with a knee injury and the other a possible back injury.

From the long lines to get in to the unstructured environment inside, such concerts try to create a frenzied atmosphere that’s dangerous to kids, the two lawmakers said.

“We don’t like the booking of concerts that desire to have this frenzy,” said Ellsworth.

The idea for the law originated with a regional committee of the Idaho PTA, which brought it to Field and Ellsworth.

“I realize, obviously, that there’s not a lot of states out there that have this legislation,” said committee member Dave Meyer. He knows of just two: Ohio and Rhode Island.

But Meyer said injuries and deaths at concerts across the nation are evidence enough that Idaho should act. The national PTA passed a resolution opposing festival seating in 1992.

“In our estimation, this is coming,” Meyer said. “It’s going to come to Boise, it’s going to come to the other cities in Idaho. Are we going to wait until somebody dies?”

In 1991, three teenagers were crushed to death at an AC/DC concert in Salt Lake City, prompting that city to pass an ordinance banning festival seating. Cincinnati also banned festival seating after 11 people died at a Who concert there in 1979.

Kevin Twohig, general manager of the Spokane Arena, said some bands demand festival seating, but the number has been dropping.

“I would say it is less popular now than it was 10 years ago, certainly, way less.”

If bands decide to skip Idaho because of state laws, surrounding states could also lose bookings as the bands choose different routes for their tours, Spencer said.

Concert hall managers also would lose some flexibility. Spencer said he uses unreserved seating when he books Christian rock groups and other acts that fill only a portion of the 12,500-seat Boise Pavilion. Then, when he knows how many tickets have been sold, he pulls the stage forward and curtains off the unneeded seating areas.

If seats had to be reserved in advance, he said, “You’d end up with a lot of empty seats, which kind of looks bad.”

Mike Ryan, assistant manager of the 15,000-seat Holt Arena in Pocatello, said he prefers reserved seating, like that used for a 10,000-seat Hootie and the Blowfish concert there this year. But he thinks the decision should be up to the concert hall.

Spencer said there may be some “misplaced fear” about alternative rock concerts because of images on MTV.

“They just imagine that that could happen here,” he said. “We’ve been here for 15 years, and it hasn’t happened yet.” , DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: HEARING The House Judiciary, Rules and Administration Committee has scheduled a public hearing on HB 261, the concert seating bill, on Feb. 19. The committee meets at 1:30 p.m. on the fourth floor of the state Capitol building in Boise, room 406. Sponsor Rep. Julie Ellsworth said she’d like to hear from people with thoughts about the bill. She and other committee members can be reached at (800) 626-0471, or by e-mail at infocntr@lso.state.id.us.