MOUNTAIN ROCK PRODUCTIONS IN TROUBLE

Rip It Up, Issue 216, 1 August 1995, Page 5

MOUNTAIN ROCK PRODUCTIONS IN TROUBLE

Mountain Rock Productions Limited (MRP), the company behind the annual Mountain Rock Music Festival, claim to have been defrauded to the tune of $500,000 in ticket sales after this year's concert, and due to the alleged theft, MRP has debts of over 180,000, and a substantial creditor has indicated their intention to shut the company down.

The - organisers ; of the annual festival, first staged ; in January 1992, esti- ' mated a crowd of 3540,000 people attended the 1995 event on January 14 and 15, but say ticket sales indicated a figure of just 13,000, and they - believe that is where the ' shortfall lies. Discrepancies in numbers were discovered on - the second day of the fes- ./ / tival, and Palmerston North Police were called to conduct a head count on ‘ site. But despite MRP’s claims, Detective Inspector Doug Brew, declined, to launch an inquiry into the allegations of theft, judging the ticket receipts matched the Police estimate of the crowd present at the venue. Days after the event, Brew told the New Zealand Herald: / “They [Mountain Rock Productions] got a figure and thought they would have been short. It is fair to say that they estimated the crowd in excess of what it was.” According to Paul Campbell, a director of MRP, the Police arrived too late to make an accurate assessment of the crowd size. “They started the head count at one o’clock on the Sunday morning, and half the crowd had left by the time they. started it. As an indication of the number there; we had 28,000-30,000 people at Mountain

Rock Three, and we sold 30 pallets of beer, we sold 42 at Mountain Rock Four. If there was only 14,000 people at the last festival, they’d have all been dead from alcohol - poison-' ing.” : ■> ,' A '; Campbell believes a counterfeit ticket operation was involved in the theft, but says his requests to the Palmerston North Police to investigate have been .unanswered. The Palmerston North Fraud Squad have since handed the file on the case over to their Auckland counterparts, who have not been in contact with Campbell, and who would not make any comment to RipltUp. On June 27 1995, MRP indicated it was their intention to go ahead with plans to stage the 1996 concert. They asked those parties owed money from the 1995 festival to wait until January 1996 to receive full payment. By July 6, the Auckland branch of the Australasian company Show Travel Ltd, had informed MRP they would seek to wind them up. Show Travel’s decision prevents Mountain Rock Productions from continuing to trade, and therefore the company has shelved plans for a future festival. However, Campbell says there is a new company in place who are planning to ensure the concert will go ahead. The company has five directors, all of whom have been involved with MRP in the past, while Campbell is acting in consultancy role. He states that Coca Cola and DB Breweries have been confirmed as sponsors of the 1996 Mountain Rock Music Festival, and he has every confidence the event will proceed.

JOHN RUSSELL