In 2020-2021...
Hal serves the live entertainment industry as:
Festival Producer of weekend, campout music festivals: STOMPIN, ROCKINHORSE, ROCK FIESTA www.rockfiesta.com
Sole Proprietor - Concert Promotions Publishing: online publisher of concert and festival HOW-TO books. These 3 different instructive guides assist promoters on their path to promoting concerts and music festivals. www.concert-promotions.com
Managing member/ Festival Producer Festival Factory, LLC: festival production company www.festivalfactory.net Designer of ROCKINHORSE RANCH, Harrison Ferry Mountain, mid-TN.
Concert/ Festival Consultant for promoters and clients worldwide, proposal/ budget writer: www.rentapromoter.com
Hal Davidson is highly knowledgeable in planning, promoting and producing concerts and large music festivals. His father Marvin, engrained a serious work ethic in Hal through his work at Dad’s sporting goods business established the year Hal was born in the 50's.
Hal worked in many positions for his father’s Marvin’s Sport City, Stuart Distributing and National Sports Warehouse. As his father became more successful, the family’s lifestyle moved up, culminating in a beautiful home located in Velvet Valley on an estate in Owings Mills , Maryland. There he led a perfect life as an adventuring teenager with his Irish Setter “Syre”, played drums since age 9, and there he became a compulsive moto-crosser on weekends racing his # 45 Penton 125cc dirt bike, riding after school along the Baltimore County power lines with his friends Jon Fish, Richard Berg, Steve Seymour and Bryce Goldsborough. Once they found an abandoned missile base in the middle of the forest, climbing down into the missile silos to eat lunch.
Hal was raised in the shadow of the Beatles, the British Invasion, the development of rock music and Motown. He came of age during the time of the assignation of JFK, RFK and MLK, the 60’s riots and the Vietnam War.
The moment that changed everything was 8:00pm Sunday night, February 9, 1964 when the Beatles made their first U.S. TV debut on The Ed Sullivan Show on CBS. Hal was 9. Game on.
Originally from Baltimore, Maryland, Hal Davidson started promoting as early as 1974 when he was hired as an advance man for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey by the circus’ ad agency, Harco Communications, while he was attending college in Maryland. During this time he was for the first time, indoctrinated into the excitement and lure of the live entertainment business. His experience made an indelible impression.
Five years later, he would return to The Greatest Show on Earth and Ice Follies and Holiday on Ice, as one of 25 Regional Marketing Directors where he was first given a number of special assignments. These assignments included comprehensive box office training under David Mobbs in several cities and he was asked to write the only modern edition of the Venue Operations Manual so the building Managers knew of the special needs for each of the circus’ many components once they arrived on either the red unit or the blue unit’s identical mile long train.
As a Ringling/ Ice Follies Promoter, his job entailed making a 22 week pre-marketing analysis for each city’s promotion he was assigned. His region consisted of an eclectic and sporadic geographical area including upstate New York, Illinois and Louisiana. In some cities such as New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. he assisted other promoters. His regional Marketing Supervisor was Bill Powell, based in Grapevine, Texas.
By the time he returned to Ringling Bros., Hal Davidson had already moved to Las Vegas, Nevada and at age 20, established Cactus Productions in 1975. He then obtained start-up financing and returned to Maryland where he started promoting concerts at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Painters Mill Music Fair and the Lyric Theater.
These venues from 2,500 to 4,000 seats gave Hal the initial concert training to start his promoting career. The concerts were primarily rock and R&B. With the typical concert ticket selling for only $5.50-$7.50 after 10 concerts it was obvious that it was time to step up the size of the shows.
In early 1976, while living in Reisterstown Maryland, Davidson conceived and organized Stompin 76 at a farm with a natural amphitheater located near Galax Virginia. He assembled a now legendary lineup of blues and bluegrass stars and priced the 3-ticket at a ridiculously low $12.00 for 3 days. Afraid the attendance would be low, he promoted feverishly in 20 states. Stompin 76 and the all-star lineup attracted more than 100,000. See more at www.stompin76.com Later he would return to Las Vegas, become a stage hand for IATSE Local 720 Stagehands Union. He worked concerts at the Aladdin and Hilton Hotels and at the spectacular Halleluiah Hollywood show at the MGM Grand Hotel.
He then won the position as Director of Promotions for Sassy Sally’s Golden Goose, Glitter Gulch and Coin Castle on Freemont Street long before the present dome. The casino’s owner Herb Pastor allowed Hal to conduct many interesting promotional concepts such as “Computerized Gambling Horoscopes”, “Frankies 5₵ Footlong Franks” (he lined the waiting aisle with $5 slot machines) and “Free newspapers with your name in Headlines” among many successful seducing and retention promotions. Hal loved his casino promotions work as it was pure promotions creativity.
As the years passed, Hal was eager to learn more about other tourism related industries. Using his promoting management experience he entered the resort marketing industry, and after establishing a successful track record for Maryland coastal resorts, was recruited by the owners of the fledgling Vacation Break USA in Fort Lauderdale. He worked hard and played hard (sailing his 18’ Magnum Hobie Cat off Ft. Lauderdale beach), for years developing the marketing department for what became the largest and most successful resort marketing company on the U.S. east coast. Hal finished his resort marketing career at Platinum Travel, moving to Tybee Island near Savannah, GA.
While working in the resort industry, he traveled to potential festival sites and formulated plans for future festival concepts. During this time he realized the compatibility between festivals and resorts. Knowing one day, the two would merge. Nowadays festival destination packages are common and are considered an important ancillary component to the main event.
In 1999, Hal revised and developed the new compilation of notes from a 1979 publication on concert and festival promoting (first sold through Rolling Stone classified ads), he published HOW NOT TO PROMOTE CONCERTS & MUSIC FESTIVALS. This 160 page manual on the business of promoting concerts and music festivals was the first ever made available on the new world wide web. This book has been updated 17 times, growing into the present-day 425 page bible of promoting. Over 6,000 copies have been sold to promoters in 25 countries. In 2007 he wrote and published aversion focusing on concerts promotions only, HOW TO PROMOTE CONCERTS, SIMPLIFIED, now 177 pages. Several years later Hal accumulated many of his proposals, plans and contracts as a reference manual. All of his books are available at www.concert-promotions.com
He is proud to be the only promoter in the world revealing the inside workings of the concert and music festival business un such detail, updated frequently with new editions. In 2014 Amazon proclaimed the bigger book as Best In The Category. His Concert Promotions business was selected for the 2016 American Excellence Award amongst all its peers and competitors by the American Economic Institute (AEI).
At this time in 1999, Hal re-started his festival promoting career, first promoting a bluegrass festival in West Virginia, then a Jamband fest in Oregon and a country fest in Tennessee. In 2016 he successfully produced Rock Fiesta in Quartzsite, Arizona. In between his own projects, he has consulted on concerts and festivals around the world. Hal Davidson has helped hundreds of promoters unable to find help anywhere else. Writing festival plans, executive summaries, cost and revenue sheets, designing festival sites and coaching promoters on all aspects of their events including security, site selection and layout, site production, talent buying, vendor villages, marketing and web design, sponsorships and many other areas surrounding the complicated endeavor of producing major music festivals. In a business which only exists to bring people together, Hal is one of the only promoters willing to answer the phone or emails to discuss promoter’s ideas, dreams and aspirations, however he needs to remind inquirers that he is a paid consultant.
This is how consulting starts, through a caring, confidential discussion. In the 2020’s Hal is still working on the planning and production of other festivals and his own festivals. A conscientious, ethical and transparent festival producer, Hal says: "It takes a lifetime to become the promoter you will grow into."
