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George Strait Festival Event Forced Closed By High Winds
The second show of George Strait 's touring all-day country music festival was forced to end abruptly on Sunday after high winds ripped through El Paso's Sun Bowl stadium, challenging the stability of sound and light scaffolds erected for the event. AP reports cited winds as high as 60 mph in the vicinity of the concert, which was shut down before featured acts Tim McGraw and George Strait could take the stage.
The winds were produced by a storm system that blanketed parts of the Midwest on Sunday, producing blizzard conditions in Wisconsin, Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota and tornado conditions in northern Texas and Louisiana.
A spokesperson for tour producer SFX Entertainment said on Monday that five of the seven artists billed for the festival performed their sets on Sunday -- Asleep at the Wheel, Mark Wills, Jo Dee Messina, Kenny Chesney and the Dixie Chicks. The show was ended before Tim McGraw could begin his set, disappointing much of a crowd estimated at 33,000.
Concert officials are assessing options for dealing with inevitable refund requests and are asking that El Paso ticketholders hang on to their ticket stubs pending an announcement, which is expected by Thursday.
Livedaily.com will report on refund procedures as they become available.
The tour takes a brief break before the next show on March 27th at Tampa, FL's Raymond James Stadium. In the interim, chart-topper Jo Dee Messina will perform shows in North Carloina, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and Nevada to help maintain the top ten status of both her current single Stand Beside Me and her current album I'm Alright, both co-produced by festival cohort Tim McGraw.
