Country Thunder Music Festivals and Premier Global Production President Troy Vollhoffer had a ten-year career as a hockey player beginning in the early 1980s – including several years in the Western Hockey League and a stint with the Baltimore Skipjacks minor league affiliate championship. The NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins. But off the ice, he was already building his reputation as a live music producer.
Vollhoffer says Advertising sign His hockey money “allowed me to have the capital to invest in theatrical equipment, a lighting system,” which he used to start Premier Global Production in 1986. For the past nearly four decades, the company has set up touring lights and outdoor stages for artists such as Metallica, Chris Stapleton, Morgan Wallen, Tim McGraw and Florence and the Machine, as well as events such as Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo Music festival and Austin City Limits.
Although he headed a production company, Vollhoffer says, “I never thought the festival business would be an interest for me.” However, his experience with live events meant that he was able to attend many concerts and festivals over the years. “We've done a lot of festivals and we've seen some great ones and we've seen some not-so-great ones,” he says.
Years before moving into his current role leading the Country Thunder festival brand and production company, he was already familiar with the area: Vollhoffer's father served as production manager for the Big Valley Jamboree in Saskatchewan, Canada, and as a teenager, Vollhoffer assisted as director.
The festival would change names and change from country to rock and back again, but in 2005, Vollhoffer acquired the festival (then called the Craven Country Jamboree). In 2017, the festival was rebranded as Country Thunder Saskatchewan, one of six multi-day Country Thunder Festivals overseen by Vollhoffer in the United States and Canada.
Vollhoffer acquired the Country Thunder brand in 2009 from Larry Barr, for festivals in Arizona and Wisconsin. Country Thunder Alberta was added to the fold in 2016, followed by Country Thunder Saskatchewan in 2017, Country Thunder Florida in 2019 and Country Thunder Bristol in 2021. Since the acquisition of Country Thunder Wisconsin and Country Thunder Arizona, membership has grown from 5 average per day 1 up to 30,000 per day.
This year, Luke Combs is headlining the Country Thunder Festivals in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Florida. Eric Chert and Laney Wilson have been named this year's headliners for Country Thunder Arizona and Country Thunder Wisconsin. Country Thunder Bristol, scheduled for this weekend [June 28-29]will star Cody Johnson, HARDY, Bailey Zimmerman and Trace Adkins.
These names extend the Country Thunder brand's storied history of headliners, which already includes Keith Urban, George Strait, Dolly Parton, Garth Brooks, Willie Nelson, Reba McEntire and the late Toby Keith — who have created some unforgettable moments, like when Strait played Craven Country Jamboree in 2009 and when Keith was behind the bar serving drinks after his set in 2008.
“The music industry will miss Toby Keith,” says Vollhoffer. “He was such a big personality. After his show, he just went behind the bar. He was like, 'I got this,' he started bartending and he was back there shaking it until three o'clock, four in the morning.”
Far from a cut-and-paste mentality, Vollhoffer says the brand strives to make each festival as unique as the artists who play it, from Country Thunder Arizona's mountain-embedded site to the more seaside feel of Country Thunder Florida. Given the far-flung locations of each festival in the US and Canada, Vollhoffer and his team make sure to book artists that resonate in each market.
“There are bands that you would play in Phoenix that you wouldn't play in Wisconsin and people that aren't even known in Canada that are doing big things in Arizona,” Vollhoffer says. “The thing about Canada is that records are broken later there. Something could be really hot in America, but maybe not [in Canada] Yet. But when you book a show a year in advance, you're rolling the dice sometimes.”
One of those rolls that turned out to be fortuitous was the booking of Morgan Wallen just before his meteoric rise. In 2019, Vollhoffer met with Wallen's team to discuss booking Wallen for several Country Thunder festivals in 2020.
“I had dinner with his management. It was a $25,000 act, and that's what we paid him that year. I agreed to make the deal and was to take with him a leaflet about Saturdays [at multiple festivals] — and it didn't work out [due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused festivals to be canceled in 2020]. We sold out of almost everything when it hit, but that doesn't happen very often,” adds Vollhoffer.
By the time Wallen headlined three Country Thunder festivals in 2022 — Arizona in April, Wisconsin in July and Florida in October — the 2021 breakout Dangerous: The Double album had become the No. 1 album on the year-end Billboard 200. The same month Wallen headlined Country Thunder Florida (Oct. '22), he also played his first headlining stadium show in Arlington, Texas.
Another risk that paid off was booking Zimmerman in July 2022, just as he was scoring his initial hits with “Fall in Love” and “Rock and a Hard Place.”
“When we booked him for [Country Thunder] Wisconsin, I think we were probably the second show he had ever done professionally,” Vollhoffer recalled. “It was around 1:00 in the afternoon. We had an influx of people, unusual for 1:00. There were a ton of people and it was fantastic.”
For each event, between 500 and 800 employees are hired for security, parking, camping, hospitality, grounds crews and gates. Vollhoffer has seen the rising costs associated with putting on a festival, from the cost of booking talent to staffing, hotel and transportation costs.
“I'm lucky enough to be able to put together great compositions, and that's because of the relationships — but it's getting a little harder now,” he says, also adding that the exchange rate takes a big hit with Canadian festivals.
Since the October 2017 mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest festival in Las Vegas, which killed 58 people and injured more than 850, Vollhoffer has stepped up security at his festivals. “Our security budget has doubled from what it was in the past and our police presence in every market is very high,” he explains. “We had [police] dogs, we had set up towers so the police could have a panoramic view of the whole site. We've done drones, all kinds of things. It's all about keeping the fans safe.”
As with most festival owners, Vollhoffer knows the impact the rising overall cost of running the festival lineup can have on ticket prices. The general admission ticket price for the six Country Thunder festivals averages less than $300.
“Unfortunately, you have to raise the price of your ticket,” he says. “I don't know if there's a fix or not, but you can no longer charge the consumer more than what the market will bear. There was a lot of money in the market. Now that has changed. We're having a great year, but we're taking it one year at a time. I don't believe the adage is necessarily correct where in times of economic downturn, show business will always flourish. People are deciding between buying milk and buying a concert ticket. I think they're buying milk right now.”
Country Thunder festivals have also earned the respect of Vollhoffer's peers, with Country Thunder Arizona, Wisconsin and Bristol each winning festival of the year honors from the Academy of Country Music. Vollhoffer was also honored with the ACM Awards' Lifting Lives Award and received the Don Romeo Award for Talent Buyer of the Year.
Vollhoffer says the idea of expanding the festivals beyond North America is “not off the table,” though he says, “We haven't entertained it. We wanted to become a household name in America first, but Europe is different… a lot of different bureaucracy, a lot of different regulations, and it has a very mature festival market, with rock festivals.”
As for artists Vollhoffer would love to see headline Country Thunder, he says, “We've talked about having Post Malone — that would be a great addition.” He also notes that he sees several newcomers who seem primed for future headliners. “Riley Green is coming in hot. I think he will be great. And Tucker Wetmore is on fire.”
Vollhoffer adds, “We have so many great artists this year. We are fortunate that Luke Combs and Eric Church are pioneers. This is always excellent work. It's going to be a great year.”
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/pro/country-thunder-festival-troy-vollhoffer-morgan-wallen/
