Virginia Beach business owners concerned about Audacy festival

VIRGINIA BEACH — Some resort area business owners are concerned an Oceanfront music festival set to feature rap and hip-hop artists later this month will lack broad appeal and won’t generate tourism revenue.

Audacy’s Oceanfront Concerts is set for the last weekend in April, which previously had been held by the Something in the Water festival. The weekend is traditionally College Beach Weekend, when thousands of students from historically Black colleges and universities vacation in Virginia Beach before exam week.

Virginia Beach native and music superstar Pharrell Williams devised Something in the Water as a way to provide events and direction for the otherwise unsanctioned weekend and to address racism and perceptions of violence in the community. However, that festival is now slated for October.

Business owners who discussed the Audacy concerts Thursday at the Resort Advisory Commission, a council-appointed body that looks at tourism-related issues, expressed uneasiness about the event geared toward young adults.

Bill Gambrell, owner of Tautogs restaurant, kicked off the conversation saying he’s considering closing his business for the weekend because he’s not expecting many customers.

“I don’t know if it’s a good weekend for us to open,” Gambrell said. “They’re not generally the folks that will come and spend money in the restaurant.”

John Zirkle, president of the Virginia Beach Hotel Association, said Something in the Water was a “family-friendly” event and that most hotels had reservations with guests of all ages.

“We were led to believe this would be more of a variety of entertainment,” said Zirkle. “Something in the Water had hardcore rappers there, but they also had Mumford & Sons (a folk rock band).”

The festival, slated for April 26 and 27 on the beach at 31st Street, was initially billed as featuring rock and pop acts but later expanded to include pop, R&B, rap and contemporary music. Audacy officials previously said the genre changes were made to appeal to college students.

The lineup is now mainly rap and hip-hop with NLE Choppa, Tee Grizzley and Shordie Shordie on Friday, and Juicy J, Skilla Baby and 310babii on Saturday.

“We were asked by the city to put together a music concert and activities that would appeal to 15- to 29-year-olds, and that’s exactly what we did,” Bennett Zier, president of Audacy Virginia, said Friday.

So far, hotels aren’t seeing an uptick in reservations for the concert weekend, Zirkle said. City representatives who spoke at the meeting said Audacy’s ticket sales are low, but are expected to pick up as the weekend approaches. Ticket prices range from $29 to $79. Estimated attendance is 15,000 per day, according to the city.

It’s not just the business aspect of the weekend that has commissioners on edge. Some worry that profanity in the rap lyrics will be offensive to tourists staying in hotels.

B.J. Baumann, commission chair, pulled up one of the artist’s lyrics on her phone and showed them to a fellow commissioner at the meeting.

“From what I’ve been told there’s quite a bit of profanity, subject matter that’s not appropriate for everybody to hear,” Baumann said. “What bothers me most about this is the fact that it’s done in an open venue, and every other guest that probably didn’t know about this will be subjected to it.”

Most agreed the weekend needs some sort of organized activities, but they had hoped it would reach a broader audience, especially because College Beach Weekend has tapered off in recent years. It took a backseat to the inaugural Something in the Water festival in 2019 and was squashed during the pandemic.

Audacy, which owns more than 200 radio stations nationwide, stepped in to provide entertainment this year. The City Council agreed to provide the company with $750,000 and in-kind city services in exchange for national radio advertising promoting Virginia Beach tourism. In addition to the ticketed concerts, free music and art events are also planned from 12 to 5 p.m. each day in 17th and 24th street parks.

For years, tens of thousands of students used to come to Virginia Beach at the end of April, and at times, violence erupted in the resort area. Some Oceanfront businesses closed during College Beach Weekend in 2018 over public safety concerns, despite city police data showing crime during past College Beach Weekends was comparable to other summer holidays at the Oceanfront.

Julian Rivera, the newest member of the Resort Advisory Commission who has also worked as a DJ for Audacy, said Something in the Water “broke those barriers,” and he’s concerned that some people may be reverting back to the same old fears by focusing on what could go wrong.

“It’s been a pretty good run the past few years,” Rivera said. “Let’s just see how it goes.”

Councilman Chris Taylor, a liaison to the Resort Advisory Commission, was out of town Thursday and didn’t attend the meeting but has since talked to commissioners. He voted against the Audacy sponsorship, and feels there hasn’t been enough collaboration between the City Council and the promoter.

“We were looking for something to fill the void which would reflect the culture and community,”  he said Friday. “This is just a rap concert.”

He doesn’t plan to attend the concerts.

“I hope it’s a great event,” said Taylor. “It doesn’t fit with what I would bring my kids to.”

Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, stacy.parker@pilotonline.com