Willie Nelson show at Forum sells out

PRESQUE ISLE – A week after tickets went on sale in northern Maine for a concert featuring country music legend Willie Nelson, the show was sold out.

Area country music fans probably aren’t surprised by the news, but they may not know just how lucky they are to have their tickets.

“Originally on this run of the tour, the last date that was booked was [on May 22] in Bangor,” said organizer Carlos Larraz of National Artists Corp., Annapolis, Md.

He noted that Willie Nelson has played in Bangor three times in the past eight years. For this trip, Larraz made the musician an offer to drive a few hours north to play at the Forum in Presque Isle, giving him an opportunity to play to northern Maine and Canadian fans.

“It was close, it was doable, and it was an opportune time to do it,” Larraz said in an interview from Pennsylvania, where he was putting the finishing touches on a Lonestar concert.

“When I make him an offer to play a market, I don’t do it unless I’m sure it will do pretty well there. I’ve had him in out-of-the-way places before and he always does tremendous business.”

Being an out-of-the-way civic center has always presented a challenge for Forum officials, director Jim Kaiser said last week.

In recent years, when concert promoters approached the Forum about a show, the arena already has been booked; when the Forum wasn’t booked, concert promoters didn’t have anyone on tour.

The last time a concert promoter called and asked about availability, however, Kaiser said the Forum was open.

“He said, ‘What do you think about Willie Nelson?’ and I said, ‘Great,'” Kaiser said.

The Forum director said he didn’t fall out of his chair when he heard the news.

“The thing is, it would be great. But the promoter has to find out if he can get the act at a price that makes it worth bringing the concert here,” Kaiser said. “Sometimes, the act costs more than what you can reasonably expect to make. We get a lot of phone calls, and 90 percent of them don’t pan out.”

But Willie Nelson is coming in May to Presque Isle.

National Artists was able to sell out the 3,800-seat Forum, charging about $40 per ticket, Larraz said.

The promoter said this concert sold out so well, he may be back for more.

“Seeing the success of this show makes me more predisposed to taking a risk in Presque Isle, because these are risky propositions,” he said. “When I find that combination of someone I think will do well [in Presque Isle], someone where I could make the numbers work – when those components come together, I’ll do it again.”