Honoring Louis Messina as Executive of the Year! Experience an exclusive conversation with Billboard’s Melinda Newman, as they dive into Messina's incredible journey in shaping the live music landscape.
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00:00Good afternoon. Welcome back. I'm Louie. I'm the Executive Editor of West Coast International.
00:06And I'm about to introduce someone who I would say needs no introduction.
00:12Everybody knows Louie, but just a quick refresher.
00:15Louie is founder and creator of Queen of Touring Group.
00:18He began promoting shows in his native New Orleans in 1972,
00:22and a number of years later, he and his mentor, Alan Becker, formed Pace Concerts in Houston.
00:27SFX bought Pace in 1997.
00:30And in 2001, Louie launched, then called, Messina Touring Group.
00:34And since 2003, he's partnered with AEG.
00:37MTG is the promoter for a dazzling array of acts,
00:40including George Strait, Taylor Swift, Kenny Chesney, Blake Shelton, Eric Church,
00:45Old Dominion, Ed Sheeran, Shawn Mendes, and the Lumineers.
00:48Louie is our...
00:49And Zac Brown now.
00:50Oh, and Zac Brown. When did that happen?
00:53About a month ago.
00:55Okay.
00:56That happened since we did our interview that's in the magazine.
01:00Congratulations. Wow.
01:02Louie is our Touring Executive of the Year,
01:05and the first recipient of our Touring Titan Award.
01:08Please welcome Louie Messina.
01:10Thank you very much. It's really, really an honor to be here,
01:14and thank you for inviting me.
01:16So, I'm going to start with George Strait,
01:18because you have said to me that if there were no George Strait,
01:22there would be no Messina Touring Group.
01:24Virtually every act that you promote now, other than the Lumineers,
01:29has a connection to George.
01:31That's correct.
01:32So, his June 15th show in College Station, this year,
01:37sold 110,905 tickets, the biggest attendance ever
01:42for a ticketed concert in the United States.
01:45What can any act, especially newer acts,
01:48learn from George about longevity and putting on a great show?
01:53Well, you just answered it. Longevity and putting on a great show,
01:56and give people what they want,
01:59and be a real artist and not just the artist of the moment,
02:05where, oh, this is hot right now, so I'm going to go do this.
02:10George Strait is George Strait.
02:11That's why he's called the king of country,
02:13because he's authentic, he's real,
02:15and women love him, and guys want to be just like him.
02:20He really sings great, and he has great songs,
02:24but he's real. That's what it's about.
02:27When you're at a George Strait concert,
02:30no matter where you're sitting,
02:33you feel like George is singing to you.
02:35His eyes are his show, besides his voice and his music.
02:40But he connects with everybody in an audience,
02:43and that, to me, is the secret of every artist, by the way,
02:47every star artist.
02:48They know how to connect with the audience,
02:51and the audience then connects to the artist.
02:56To me, that's the key thing,
02:59and that's what I always look out for.
03:01How does the artist and the audience connect?
03:04How do they fall in love with each other?
03:06I look at it, because my biggest thing,
03:10I look at eyes and lips, I always say,
03:12if they're focused on the artist,
03:14and they're singing the songs,
03:16I know that there's a connection there.
03:18That's George.
03:19That's every superstar artist.
03:21They know how to do that.
03:23It is kind of fascinating that George stands there and sings.
03:28Like we said, there's not amazing pyro.
03:30He's not dancing.
03:31He stands there and sings.
03:33He sings good, though.
03:34He does. He does.
03:36All these years in, he still does.
03:40You talk about how your business,
03:42meaning Messina Touring Group,
03:44is about careers, not tours.
03:46You kind of hit on that a little bit,
03:48but what does that mean,
03:49and how does that differentiate you from your competitors?
03:53Well, I always say I'm not in the renaissance business,
03:59meaning that I've got to believe in the artist,
04:05and the artist has to believe in me.
04:07It's not about what we're going to do this next tour.
04:11It's like my first question I always ask,
04:14where do you see yourself in five or ten years from now?
04:17Because they have to have a vision,
04:22and they know it's in their head,
04:25so it's my job to extract that vision out of them.
04:30I tell every artist, tell me your dreams.
04:32You already know what's in your head.
04:34You know what's in your head.
04:35So if you can tell me your dreams,
04:38let me outdream you.
04:40And so the way I'm different,
04:43I work with, I think I have 11 acts total,
04:47and I don't have a thousand,
04:50or thousands of acts that I work with,
04:53and so we're just different.
04:56Every act that we work for has a team
05:01that's specifically dedicated to that one artist,
05:06where if it's Taylor, she's got her team.
05:11If it's George Strait, he's got his team.
05:14Kenny's got his team.
05:15All they do 24-7 is think about that one act,
05:19instead of, as I used to call myself,
05:23back in my pace days,
05:25when we built and owned all these amphitheaters,
05:28I used to call myself a turn-the-page promoter,
05:31because any given night,
05:33I had 20, 30, 40 shows going on.
05:36When you're promoting 500, 1,000 shows a year,
05:41you don't know what's going on.
05:43And when I say turn-the-page, I'm going like,
05:45oh, how's so-and-so doing in Pittsburgh?
05:49Let me see.
05:51What's the ticket count in Pittsburgh?
05:53So I wasn't paying attention,
05:55and someone called me up,
05:59and I'll keep on giving them plugs, Wayne Forte.
06:02When I was president of the Promoters Association,
06:06I called the Axe Inventory once,
06:08and he totally busted me.
06:10He goes, I'm sorry, Louie, did you say inventory?
06:14And that was a career-changing moment for me,
06:17because I go, yes, I did, and I apologize,
06:22because then I started thinking why I got into the business
06:26when I was so young,
06:29and it was about the passion of the business.
06:32And the fact that I got into a machine
06:35where it wasn't about passion,
06:38it was about popcorn, peanuts, parking,
06:42and just filling arenas, filling up sheds,
06:47because that's what I did.
06:49And I'm going, this doesn't work for me anymore.
06:51So I had to change directions.
06:53So this is why, after we sold Pace in SFX and Clear Channel,
06:59I had to get the hell out of there.
07:01It's that simple, because it was goofball.
07:04And you kind of rewrote how it's done,
07:07as you've done before, in your earlier days,
07:09but how do you compete when one of your competitors
07:12has an open checkbook?
07:14Talk a lot of shit.
07:16No, artists have to believe in themselves.
07:20It's so difficult, and it's getting more difficult every day,
07:23because when someone offers you goofball money,
07:30but people don't understand, artists don't understand
07:34that when they get this goofball offer,
07:37they're getting their own money,
07:39and they're paying a very high interest rate for it,
07:42because it's just a check,
07:45and you lose control of everything.
07:48You lose control of where you're playing,
07:50how many shows you're going to do,
07:52what's your ticket pricing.
07:54You just don't have...
07:56And you have to work it off, by the way.
07:59And if you're stiff, they're going to renegotiate with you.
08:03And my model is totally different.
08:07It's about a career. It's not about a check.
08:10But I guarantee you, the artists that I work for
08:14make a hell of a lot more money working for me,
08:17because I am so transparent.
08:19I play with my cards face-up.
08:21There's no side deals. There's no side hustles.
08:24It's just me and the artists, because I work for them.
08:28I work for the artists.
08:30That's the mentality I have,
08:32and I don't think that is the mentality of many promoters.
08:36That's how I see it.
08:39I think the other thing is, like when you said you've got 11 acts,
08:41does Zack make 12?
08:43No, I think Zack made 11.
08:46The vast majority of them, other than the Lumineers,
08:49you have worked with since they were opening acts.
08:52They either all opened for Taylor or opened for George.
08:56That's correct.
08:58So you were with them from the very baby steps
09:01and could see them,
09:03so you could kind of gauge their development, right?
09:06I could see what was going on with the connection.
09:09When Kenny was a...
09:11Kenny Chesney.
09:14I'm not going to make any jokes,
09:17because they're usually bad.
09:21He opened for George when we did the
09:24George Strait Country Music Festival.
09:27We had like a seven-act show,
09:30and he was like third or second from the bottom.
09:34I just saw him, and I saw his merchandise numbers,
09:38and then he came back the next year,
09:40and he got bigger, and everybody was in the stands early,
09:43and he was out selling merchandise
09:46more than anybody but George.
09:51I just saw this magic that he had in the connection.
09:56Then I put Kenny,
09:58it was when I was promoting Tim McGraw,
10:00because I still had the amphitheaters back then,
10:03and we put Kenny on Tim's tour,
10:06and I said, it's time to headline now.
10:09He looked at me and Clint Hyman and said,
10:12you're absolutely crazy.
10:14I'm going to be playing in the grass every night,
10:17and I'm going to be playing in empty seats every night.
10:19I go, no you're not, you've got to trust me.
10:21And he did.
10:24This year was my 25th anniversary with Kenny Chesney.
10:32That's it, because Kenny,
10:34he believed in me,
10:36and I got him to believe in himself.
10:40Then we got people to believe in him.
10:44Because in the early days,
10:46everybody used to say, Kenny Chesney is a wannabe,
10:48he's a Tim McGraw wannabe, this and that.
10:50Now everybody's a Kenny wannabe.
10:55It's the truth.
10:58I met Eric Church through Kenny,
11:00and I met Zach through Kenny,
11:03when Zach opened for Kenny 11 years ago.
11:05I had him out last summer with Kenny,
11:09and I'm going, wow, Zach is so amazing now.
11:13So much better than he was 11 years ago.
11:17He's just great.
11:19He's got one of the best bands I've ever heard.
11:23He's sober, he's fit as can be,
11:27and he's so focused.
11:29It was a pleasure working with him this last summer.
11:32He came to me and said,
11:34I really want to work with you.
11:37It took a while for him to convince me,
11:41and he did, and I'm excited about it.
11:45Without giving specifics of what it took for him to convince you,
11:48you obviously are running a very small boutique promotion company.
11:53What does it take for any artist to convince you?
11:56Because you have to be saying no a lot more than you're saying yes.
12:03It's not like I'm making people
12:07fill out applications to work for me.
12:13It's just that I'm on the road a lot,
12:15so I see what's going on firsthand.
12:19If I see and I get along,
12:21and you get along with not only just the artist,
12:24but the whole organization,
12:26then that's something.
12:28It's got to be compatible with each other.
12:31I always look at myself and I always say,
12:33I want to be an extension of not only you,
12:37but your management team,
12:39your record company, your publicist.
12:42I just want to be an extension of that.
12:46That's what we try to do,
12:47because going back to working for the artist,
12:50and you're working with them,
12:52but you're trying to corral everyone.
12:55Imagine a funnel,
12:57where everything comes down to one little hole.
13:01That, to me, is what it's like.
13:03All the energy has come into one place,
13:06and that's the artist.
13:09Then, all of a sudden, you have this thing,
13:11and then that funnel just fills up
13:13whatever container it's going into.
13:17If that makes any sense, I don't know.
13:19I just made that up.
13:21But it sounded pretty damn good.
13:23That's what we try to do,
13:24is try to connect the dots
13:26and try to make dreams come true.
13:30Let's talk about your relationship with Taylor Swift.
13:33After two years, her heiress tour
13:35is getting ready to wrap up
13:36in a few weeks in Vancouver,
13:38and it's grossed far beyond $1 billion.
13:42What did you see in her from the start
13:44when she was opening for George Strait 15 years ago,
13:47and what does she do simply better than anyone else?
13:51I'll start with, she outworks everybody.
13:53There's no one I've seen with a work ethic like Taylor Swift.
13:59I met her when she just turned 17.
14:02She was the first of three.
14:03It was George Strait, Ronnie Millsap, and Taylor Swift.
14:06She had one song on the radio.
14:08I've told this story over and over.
14:10By the third night, I just knew.
14:13I saw the twinkle in her eye.
14:16I saw her work ethic.
14:18Here's a 17-year-old girl
14:20singing about high school boyfriends,
14:22and just had the audience in the palm of her hands.
14:25Then, every morning,
14:27she was the first person in the production office
14:30after she visited radio stations.
14:32She's signing notes to everybody,
14:36fans, DJs that played her music, everything.
14:40After the show, because George let her sign,
14:44she would be the first one in the building
14:47and the last one in the building.
14:48That's what's special about Taylor Swift
14:51because she's one of a kind,
14:53and she will outwork everybody.
14:57I was just blessed to happen to be there
15:00and just see that connection that she had with everybody.
15:04I want to ask you something else about George
15:06that just made me think about this.
15:07When you said he let her sign
15:09so she would go out after her set
15:10and sign autographs and meet fans,
15:12George has a reputation of being
15:15one of the best artists ever to open for.
15:18Can you talk about that a little bit
15:20and how do you deal with it
15:21if the act is an asshole to their opening acts?
15:25You can tell he didn't know this one was coming.
15:30Okay, I've worked with a lot of really goofball acts
15:34in my career,
15:35but all the acts I work for right now,
15:37there's not one that is an asshole.
15:41There really isn't.
15:42Well, not now.
15:43Not now.
15:44Not now, but in the past,
15:46everybody was an asshole back then.
15:49Shit, I was an asshole.
15:51Everybody was high and drunk and everything.
15:55Actually, because you were so high or drunk,
15:59you didn't know who was an asshole or not.
16:01But there were assholes.
16:03I don't know.
16:05You just kind of move on with it.
16:06It goes with the territory.
16:08It's not like that.
16:09I just don't know.
16:12I haven't been around that.
16:14I won't subject myself to that anymore.
16:16I just won't.
16:17I just won't.
16:18If I see something that...
16:20If there's someone that has a bad...
16:22If I don't catch a good vibe off of somebody,
16:25I don't want to be around them.
16:27Yeah, so kind of good vibes only.
16:29Taylor did not use dynamic pricing.
16:32When is it a good idea to use it,
16:34and when is it not,
16:35and what is that conversation with,
16:37with your clients?
16:39Well, the artists decide themselves.
16:41All I do is just tell them what opportunities are.
16:47And she chose not to do it.
16:51Ed Sheeran chose not to do it.
16:53A lot of artists choose not to do it,
16:55but some artists do want to do it.
16:58As I have explained to artists,
17:01first of all,
17:02the secondary market is, in my opinion,
17:07is the curse of the business.
17:10And because the artists...
17:12And Springsteen got in a lot of shit over this, right?
17:14And I love the way he answered it.
17:17He goes,
17:18Why are all these people making money off of me?
17:20Because it was talking about his high ticket prices.
17:24And he goes,
17:25And I've been doing this for...
17:27This is Bruce.
17:28I'm just trying to remember what he said.
17:31I've been doing this for 50 years,
17:33and my band's been with me,
17:35and we're the ones up here three hours a night.
17:38Our whole lives have been dedicated to what we do.
17:41So why should other people who have no investment in my career
17:46make all this money off of me?
17:48Why shouldn't the guys behind me share in that money?
17:53And to me,
17:54dynamic pricing helps with the secondary market
17:57because it takes out their profit margins.
18:00And it's like,
18:03I know artists have great intentions,
18:06but I told Ed Sheeran this,
18:08and this is in our interview,
18:11that Ed wanted his ticket prices to be like $99.
18:15And one night I said,
18:17Ed, let me just explain something to you,
18:19that you want to go to bed at night
18:21knowing that you sold tickets for $99,
18:23but they're spending like $2,000 to go see you.
18:30And all they're going to remember is
18:32it costs $2,000 to go see Ed Sheeran.
18:36But Ed wanted to go to bed thinking his ticket prices were $99.
18:42But that's his kind heart.
18:45That's who he is.
18:47And he goes, I don't care.
18:48This is what I want.
18:50And so Ed doesn't mind leaving money on the table.
18:53And I don't think it's right.
18:57I wish the federal government would do something right
19:01and look at the secondary market
19:04and really just kind of regulate it.
19:08Because you've got StubHubs and SeatGeeks of the world
19:12and all these secondary markets.
19:14They're making a fortune off of talent
19:17that they have no investment in whatsoever.
19:19But that's what I like about dynamic pricing.
19:24I was telling you before we came on
19:26that I was talking to a promoter the other night,
19:28and he was talking about the secondary market.
19:31And I said, do you think there's any solution?
19:33And he said, no.
19:35Legislators are never going to regulate it
19:37because they've taken too much money
19:39from the secondary market companies.
19:42He said more than the NRA,
19:46which I don't know where he got that number from.
19:48But I think it was just to make his point.
19:51So is there any solution to that?
19:54No, unless the government gets involved.
19:57I mean, there is no solution because it's legal.
20:01It's that simple.
20:02Why is the tobacco business,
20:05when it says it's going to kill you
20:08on every pack of cigarettes,
20:10you're going to die.
20:12And it's too big of a business.
20:15And so with lobbyists and everything
20:18and our government,
20:20where he who talks the loudest
20:24and lies the most wins.
20:30Dave did a story recently,
20:32and it was the median concert ticket price
20:34for the top 40 highest-grossing tours
20:36is on track to hit $200.
20:38Is there a limit to how high ticket prices go,
20:41or is it wherever the market will bear?
20:44And what do you see,
20:45given that we're about to have a change of administration,
20:48do you think that's going to affect ticket prices at all,
20:51like people are worried about a recession?
20:53What do you see happening with ticket prices?
20:55Well, people have been worried about a recession
20:57for the last three, four years, you know?
20:59And, you know, it's funny
21:05how the music business gets so much criticism
21:07about ticket prices.
21:09And I bought tickets to go see a Broadway show,
21:15and just for a regular face-value ticket
21:18was $600.
21:20And this wasn't even Hamilton,
21:23which is more.
21:25And no one bitches about, you know, their ticket prices.
21:29But it's Broadway.
21:31You know?
21:32I mean, but if an artist...
21:34Everybody feels like they own the artist, you know?
21:37And it is so wrong.
21:39I mean, I think the artist...
21:41It's what the market should bear.
21:43You look at hotels.
21:44If it's...
21:45You mean...
21:46Taylor's in Toronto this week,
21:48and hotel prices probably are
21:51800% higher than they normally are.
21:54You look at airlines.
21:56When it's a hot flight,
21:57when it's a sold-out flight,
21:59the prices can double.
22:01You know, if it's flights going to New Orleans
22:03for the Super Bowl next year,
22:05you can't buy a ticket for a regular price, you know?
22:08And it's just a joke.
22:11It's what the people are willing to pay.
22:14You can always...
22:15You know, as Taylor goes,
22:16you could have said no.
22:18I want to just back up to where you said
22:22you bought your Broadway ticket.
22:24Do you buy tickets?
22:26Do you say,
22:27I'm not going to accept a free ticket.
22:29I'm going to buy tickets.
22:31Or was this an exception?
22:32Not to put you on the spot.
22:33I don't want free tickets
22:35because that means I have to get free tickets out.
22:40You know?
22:41I mean, there's sometimes, you know,
22:43buildings go, no, we won't take your money.
22:45I go, well, I want to.
22:47Because here's my problem.
22:48I've got two, you know, teenage girls
22:51and they want to go to all these shows.
22:53And I go, if I don't pay for my tickets,
22:56then I'm going to be very uncomfortable
22:58asking you for tickets.
23:00I just want to be able to buy tickets.
23:02Okay.
23:03I thought that was like noteworthy
23:04that you were like, I bought.
23:05Okay, so that's interesting.
23:07Yeah, I mean...
23:08We had an agent...
23:09As I said earlier,
23:11money and nothing is free.
23:13No.
23:14Nothing.
23:15We had an agent panel earlier today.
23:17That must have been fun.
23:18Well, I was about to say,
23:19what do you like most?
23:21I wonder if there was one truth serum.
23:24I mean, y'all should have gave out truth serum.
23:26That would have been like,
23:27it would have been totally like everybody went,
23:28huh, what?
23:29I don't know how to answer that question.
23:30I think you probably would pass so far
23:32if we had you hooked up.
23:33I am just joking, by the way.
23:35Well, but to follow up with that,
23:37what do you like most about working with agents
23:40and what do you like least?
23:47Look, agents, you know,
23:51the good agents that are involved
23:54are a pleasure to work with.
23:56You know, agents just like promoters
23:58that are so busy
24:00and where they have so many acts
24:03that they're involved with,
24:05it's hard to pay attention to a career.
24:08You know, when you're responsible to booking,
24:11you know, three, four hundred bands,
24:13two hundred bands, a hundred bands,
24:15it's tough.
24:16But I enjoy working with agents that are involved.
24:21You know, that's it.
24:24Like, I enjoy working with buildings
24:26that are involved, you know.
24:28And I, you know, if the buildings
24:32don't want to be involved with me
24:35or they're not doing their job,
24:37I just bypass them.
24:39And the same thing, you know,
24:41if an artist doesn't work with,
24:42I don't make decisions if an artist
24:44works with an agent or not, you know.
24:46And the artists make that decision.
24:49And, you know, agents serve a purpose
24:52just like promoters serve a purpose.
24:54We work for the artists.
24:56I want to follow up on the building thing
24:57because I had the next question
24:59was about buildings.
25:01What do you look for in an arena or stadium
25:04when you're routing a tour
25:06and is Newer always better?
25:08Well, Newer always has a honeymoon effect
25:11in the beginning.
25:12But, you know, it's the artist's name
25:14on the ticket, not the building.
25:16Except for the sphere.
25:18That's a whole other ballgame.
25:20But I look for buildings
25:23that actually want to be my partners.
25:26Meaning, like, they're my boots on the ground.
25:28They're in the marketplace.
25:30They have relationships with, you know,
25:32with all the local media.
25:34And so I like when I can go to them
25:39and just have a very transparent relationship with them
25:43and where they are just involved
25:46with that show as we are as promoters.
25:51And so that's what I'm always looking for
25:53besides a great deal.
25:54But, you know, today's buildings,
25:59they all, the majority of them
26:01have incredible staffs.
26:03You know, just incredible staffs
26:05and incredible teams.
26:06And, you know, if you treat them nice,
26:09they treat you nice.
26:10That's it.
26:11So let's talk about Sphere.
26:12What do you think of it?
26:14Have you been?
26:15And in so much as you can,
26:17are any of your artists in discussions to play?
26:20I've only been there for a demonstration.
26:22I haven't been there for a show.
26:24And just the demonstration blew me away.
26:27And, yes, I have a couple of artists
26:29that are potentially playing there.
26:33That narrows it down to 11.
26:36I'm like, okay.
26:37I got my little brain, like, ticking.
26:40What do you think about ticket purchase limits?
26:42Taylor used them.
26:44Oasis just used them.
26:46Are they effective in keeping tickets
26:48out of scalpers' hands?
26:49What was the question?
26:51Ticket purchase limits.
26:52I think it should be.
26:54I mean, you should.
26:55You think there should be?
26:56Yeah, absolutely.
26:57I mean, you know.
26:58Should it always be four?
26:59Well, I mean, depends on the act.
27:02I mean, with Taylor, there's a, you know,
27:05I mean, I think even with Straight,
27:07I think I have an eight ticket limit.
27:09Taylor, I think, is a four.
27:11I don't know.
27:12But we do have limits on ticket purchases.
27:16But, you know, when you have a bot system,
27:19I mean, the great thing about how,
27:23Taylor sold everything out in advance, right?
27:26And so we were able to scrub, like,
27:29I mean, tens and tens of thousands of tickets.
27:33And just like we do most of the time.
27:36And, you know, the great thing about the ticketing company,
27:40the major ones, like Access and Ticketmaster,
27:45they cross references with addresses
27:48and credit card numbers.
27:50And so they can find a lot of, you know, the players,
27:58you know, just those people in the secondary
28:02that's trying to be, you know, gobble up tickets.
28:06It's difficult, though.
28:08Who do you want to work with
28:11that you have not gotten to work with?
28:13I knew that question was good.
28:15There's two acts, okay, that I'd love to work with.
28:18That's Beyonce and Bruno Mars.
28:21And, you know, I mean,
28:24who doesn't want to work with Chapel Rome now?
28:26You know, I mean, come on, like,
28:28I mean, like, wow, what a superstar.
28:31What a unique artist.
28:32I mean, I haven't seen anybody like her.
28:35And since she reminds me of when Madonna first started,
28:41that attitude, that she was unique.
28:44And I saw her at ACL, and she, like, blew me away.
28:49Even though it was 110 degrees,
28:51and she almost died on stage.
28:53And, like, I almost died in the audience
28:55because it was so hot.
28:56And she's one of a kind.
28:58So she's magical.
29:00Wow.
29:01What would you advise anyone
29:03wanting to get into concert promotion now?
29:06With Live Nation and AAG's dominance,
29:08is it possible for independent promoters
29:11to successfully enter the market
29:13and stay in the market?
29:14I think it's difficult.
29:16I think, you know, I wouldn't recommend it
29:19because, you know,
29:21unless you have a personal relationship
29:23with an artist, you can't.
29:25I'm lucky because I've been in this business
29:27for a long time.
29:28So I, and the fact that, you know,
29:31when you have a George Strait
29:34or Ed Sheeran or Taylor or Kenny Chesney,
29:39it's easy.
29:40But when you're starting from the beginning,
29:43man, you better have really deep pockets
29:45because longevity is a key to this business, too.
29:49So, speaking of longevity,
29:50I was remiss in not saying this earlier
29:52when I introduced you,
29:53that, you know, you've been doing this now
29:5450-plus years.
29:55You told me that last year
29:57was your most successful year
29:59and this year is your second most successful year.
30:02So you are still, like, growing.
30:05I still got pounds.
30:06I still got it.
30:07You still got pounds.
30:08I still got my stuff.
30:10So like a true New Orleans boy.
30:13Uh-huh.
30:14So we have to wrap up.
30:1638 seconds.
30:17So my last question to you is
30:19where do you see Messina Touring Group
30:22in five years from now?
30:24I see me on the same path.
30:26One artist at a time.
30:27And that's what it's about.
30:30Just one artist at a time.
30:31And I want MTG to grow.
30:35You know, I have great partners with AEG.
30:37And we'll grow.
30:40But I am not trying to take over the world.
30:43I'm trying to get involved with one artist at a time.
30:46And that's it in a nutshell.
30:48I love what I do.
30:49I've got a fabulous team.
30:52Honestly, to make me look good, it's difficult.
30:55And so my team is so good.
30:57They are.
30:58They're one of a kind.
30:59And I put them against anybody.
31:01I think we're the best concert promotion company in the world.
31:05I really do.
31:06And I believe that.
31:07And this is not me just being egotistical.
31:11Anyway.
31:12And it's real.
31:15I mean, there's...
31:16And I've had people just like my artists.
31:18I've had the McMahons with working for me over 30 years.
31:21Mike Dugan over 25 years.
31:24Sarah went to 18 years.
31:25Hayley McAllister.
31:27I mean, all my...
31:28With the exception of the young employees, they've been with me forever.
31:35I mean, Hayley's and Sarah's first job out of college.
31:38And they've been with me that long.
31:40And I believe 70% of your staff is female?
31:42Of course.
31:43You know.
31:44I think it's more than that.
31:45Because females are a lot smarter and more dependable than guys.
31:53Guys like me are just goofballs.
31:56We're ending it on that note.
31:58Me being a goofball.
32:01That's great.
32:02Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.
32:04Thank you, Louis.