Concerts draw 11,000 to area...
Saturday, prior to entertaining an audience of 5,448 at Castle Farms, rock star David Lee Roth entertained himself.
According to concert personnel, Roth arrived at Castle Farms early Saturday morning and spent much of the day climbing and repelling on the castle walls.
While Roth climbed the walls, some members of his crew went salmon fishing on Lake Michigan. A concert official with Charlevoix Productions said some members of Roth's road crew are from Northern Michigan and he and the crew love it here.
Bands performing in Northern Michigan are encouraged to spend a day enjoying themselves, promoters said. In the past, performers have gone golfing at area courses and played volleyball at Charlevoix's Depot Beach.
Friday night's Sting concert and Saturday night's David Lee Roth and Poison concert drew a total of about 11,000 people to Charlevoix this past weekend.
Sting drew 5,681 people Friday. An official from Charlevoix Pro- ductions said Sting was an expensive act and the company had hoped for a better attendance. The official said weekend storms apparently kept people from deciding to come to the concert at the last minute.
As things turned out, the weather was nice during the Sting concert. However, rain fell during almost all of David Lee Roth's performance. Roth and Poison attracted a crowd of 5,448. The con- cert official said Charlevoix Productions was comfortable with that figure.
Despite rain, the audience stayed and enjoyed the show.
Local law enforcement officials said that although back-to-back shows created a lot of work, there weren't any major problems with the concert crowds.
"At the Sting concert Friday night, the crowd was excellent, very cordial," Charlevoix County Sheriff George Lasater said. Of Saturday night's David Lee Roth and Poison concert, he said, "About the same number of people. A little different clientele. A few more problems, but nothing major."
Charlevoix city police chief Dennis Halverson said back-to- back concerts sandwiched around the art fair created worse-than-normal traffic congestion down- town and tired out police officers.
(c) The Petoskey News-Review by L. Scott Swanson
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