City Officials Criticize Carly Pearce for Canceling Performance

This story has been updated.
Carly Pearce was scheduled to perform a free concert in Jeffersonville, Indiana on Saturday, July 1st as part of the city’s “Jammin’ in Jeff” series. Jeffersonville is right across the river from Louisville, Kentucky. But Pearce never took the Jeffersonville Riverstage as scheduled.
Citing concerns about the weather, Carly Pearce cancelled her performance, has not scheduled a replacement date, and still cashed her $75,000 appearance check from the city, leaving city officials up in arms and speaking out. But Carly Pearce’s camp is telling a different story from Jeffersonville officials.
The forecast for Saturday said there was a chance of inclement weather in the area around 10 pm, and inclement weather did ultimately move through the area later in the evening. But according to local officials, they offered Pearce multiple alternatives to allow the performance to go forward, including starting the concert early to give ample time to perform and load up before the storms came through. A member of the setup crew, Robert B. Morrison, confirmed it took the crew less than two hours to tear everything down and have it loaded once they decided to cancel.
According to Jeffersonville officials, Pearce’s camp cancelled at 6 pm and refused to entertain any alternative plans. When asked to return her performance fee, the Carly Pearce camp cited a contract provision that allows Pearce to keep the fee if a cancellation is due to “an act of God.” The city also said they paid some $20,000 to accommodate a team of Carly Pearce’s songwriters and support staff. In mainstream country, it is common for co-writers to be part of an artist’s touring entourage to work on new material. Jeffersonville officials also said they were out other expenses due to the cancellation.
Jeffersonville Mayor Mike Moore called the situation “disheartening.”
A city attorney added in an official statement, “Carly Pearce has just informed city officials that she has cancelled her performance at tonight’s Jeff Goes Country due to her concerns of severe weather potentially developing later this evening. Unfortunately, Carly Pearce refused the city’s request to take the stage early as way to avoid any threat of severe weather and more importantly, so the show could safely happen. The city is disappointed in Carly Pearce’s decision.”
However, the publicist for Carly Pearce disputes these claims. In a statement to WHAS11, the publicist claims,
The overwhelming consensus and suggestion from officials—including local law enforcement and city staff—was to cancel out of an abundance of caution and concern for safety of everyone involved or attending. This was a collective safety decision made by all parties to cancel, and never was there any request made to Carly to go on early, as the weather was still a possible threat.
Also want to note that the weather forecast included lightning, which was a particularly important variable here as the stage itself is on a barge in the river.
Additionally, there has not been anything about future shows discussed with Carly or her team at all at this time.
Since the statement from the Carly Pearce publicist directly disputes what Jeffersonville city officials said, Saving Country Music reached out to the City of Jeffersonville for clarification, which said they are standing behind their original statements, and upon the advisement of their legal department would not be offering any further comments at this time. Saving Country Music also reached out to the Jeffersonville Police Department, which said that the matter was in the jurisdiction of city officials.
Some in Jeffersonville and beyond defended Carly Pearce’s decision to not perform due to safety concerns, while many of her fans rushed in to also offer their support. The top comment on Facebook reads, “It was a free show. Canceling a show due to potentially very dangerous weather is the right thing to do for herself, her band and crew and equipment, and, more importantly, her fans. She may have considered returning at another date, though, given the backlash, I doubt it. Let’s work on our PR a bit Jeffersonville.”
As some pointed out, seven people were killed and another 58 injured after a stage collapsed during severe weather at a Sugarland concert at the Indiana State Fair in 2011. Officials were criticized for not cancelling the concert in that instance, and multiple lawsuits were found in favor of the victims, though the Jefforsonville Riverfront stage is more of a permanent structure as a river barge, making this less of a concern.
On June 21st, 100 people were injured and seven people were sent to the hospital when a hail storm hit the Red Rocks amphitheater in Colorado. Officials faced strong criticism for not cancelling the Louis Tomlinson performance in that instance.
Conversely, The Roostertail Music Festival was happening in Madison, Indiana, about 45 miles away from Jeffersonville on Saturday as well. The same storm system delayed headliners Blackberry Smoke from taking the stage at their scheduled time, but they eventually did perform starting after midnight and playing a full set. Taylor Swift also performed in Cincinnati on Saturday, and moved her start time an hour earlier for the weather, and got the show in without incident.
Some local fans and boosters in Jeffersonville feel that since it was a free concert promoted by the city as opposed to a ticketed event, Carly Pearce and/or her team did not take the performance seriously, and didn’t have the same urgency to fulfill the performance if tickets would have to be refunded, or the show rescheduled. If the concert had begun at 6 pm as opposed to the 7pm scheduled time, there would have been ample time to clear everyone out before weather arrived.
The situation highlights how in post COVID times, artists are more comfortable with cancelling performances, while safety concerns also seem to be more elevated for outdoor events, with events more often than not being cancelled or delayed out of an abundance of caution, and due to fears of liability concerns.
The possibility remains that Carly Pearce will reschedule the performance in Jeffersonville at a later date.
July 3, 2023 @ 11:12 am
It’s like the cost of her equipment was tens of thousands of dollars and they didn’t want to risk damage to it in bad weather. But idk how anyone could be ok with taking the all the money from a town when they didn’t play because that’s taxpayer money.
July 3, 2023 @ 11:33 am
I’m of two minds of this. With the amount of weather-related injuries and such lately, I can completely understand an artist approaching these situations with an abundance of caution. When I was at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival a few weeks ago, they evacuated the site due to lightning. A massive lightning strike ultimately ended up hitting the site, and if it had not been evacuated, there a good chance people would have been killed.
That said, it seemed like a very reasonable Plan B to start the concert early, and one of the road crew confirmed they could be torn down and loaded in less than two hours.
Also, somebody is outright lying here. The city is officially saying publicly that they approached Carly Pearce’s camp with the Plan B option, and through lawyers. Carly Pearce’s camp is saying they didn’t. It’s one or the other, and with how emphatic the city is being, it’s hard to not believe them.
Cancelling the show = totally understandable. But try to make it right to folks. This isn’t LiveNation you’re dealing with. Hopefully Carly comes back to Jeffersonville and makes it good.
July 3, 2023 @ 11:55 am
Is there any chance this was a miscommunication? One part of the city apparatus telling CP’s camp that the show should be canceled, while the other is offering these alternatives but hitting a brick wall?
Either way, my mind is to believe the CP camp. Because when weather is predicted, you never know. It could start “after 10 PM” or it could blow in quickly and with little warning.
July 3, 2023 @ 12:14 pm
That is certainly a possibility. That is why I reached back out to the city myself this morning to see if they had an answer as to why Pearce’s publicist is saying that she canceled at the SUGGESTION of city staff. The city was adamant that their original statement stands and they’re disappointed.
In the Sugarland incident, there were numerous mistakes made, but one of the things that happened was the expected weather arrived earlier than forecasted. That’s why you can’t blame Carly Pearce for being cautious here.
July 3, 2023 @ 2:02 pm
Exactly. And what city officials fail to realize is, number one, $95,000 all-in for the hottest female act in country music to do a free-to-the-public show is not at all bad. Sounds like they were doing it for cost and maybe a little more. So, by the time the call came down to cancel, all that labor the city was paying for had been done.
The saying “we charge to set up, but the show is free” has some truth to it.
July 4, 2023 @ 12:24 pm
The stage is not permanent, as the author writes. This needs to be corrected. The stage is a barge. Which is moved for repairs and storage during the off season. Lightning was forecast. A stage, floating on a river, with severe weather forecast….. It should also be noted that it is very difficult for the equipment to be moved onto this stage. I am a local. The trucks and busses are several hundred yards from the stage. They do not pull up directly into a loading dock.
July 4, 2023 @ 12:43 pm
The “permanence” of the stage was referenced in regards to the Sugarland incident in 2011 when seven people died in Indiana when a rigging-style stage collapsed due to wind. When you have a tall rigging-style stage that is set up and torn down for each event, there is a greater risk for injury in inclement weather from it collapsing compared to the stage in Jeffersonville.
The article states that the stage is a barge in the river via the statement from the publicist of Carly Pearce. It may be a barge, but it is still a permanent stage, meaning it doesn’t have to be erected each time an event happens, and there’s less risk of collapse due to wind. Totally understand that lightning is still a concern. The qualifyer “more permanent” was added to the article along with referencing it as a “barge” though, just to emphasize this.
July 4, 2023 @ 9:19 pm
I was there for the Carly Pearce show that didn’t happen. I am 100% fine with cancelling due to weather out of an abundance of caution. My problem is when you do it 15 minutes before the show starts when there is not a rain cloud in sight and the sun is shining. The forecast was showing storms at 10pm all day long. It finally did rain lightly after 10. They had all day to look at that forecast and cancel. The timing of the cancellation is the issue here to me. They literally walked out on stage and said it’s cancelled at 6:45 when the show was supposed to start at 7 after everyone was there ready to go. The stage seemed to be infested with millions of flies too. It was really bad. They could have been swarming all around her and her band. My theory is she saw the forecast, intended to play the show, arrived, experienced the flies, was disgusted by the flies, and used the weather as an out at the last minute. That would explain why she was unwilling to start earlier too. It’s either that or she didn’t want to play at all which doesn’t make sense to me. Very strange situation all around with how this played out.
July 5, 2023 @ 6:13 am
I can’t believe anybody would give her $75,000 let alone $75
July 3, 2023 @ 11:30 am
I can understand canceling due to the weather. An Allison Krause/Robert Plant show was canceled here in Ohio just last week because of the Canadian wildfire smoke, but it doesnt look good on Carly keeping all the money without offering a reschedule if thats true.
July 4, 2023 @ 6:40 am
But she didn’t do the show. I hope she gets sued. Litigation would explain the city’s “no further comment” stance.
July 3, 2023 @ 12:15 pm
Do the right thing and refund half the money. Or just keep what was needed for travel expenses, etc.
July 3, 2023 @ 11:04 pm
This seems like the most common-sense solution.
July 3, 2023 @ 1:43 pm
Smartest thing would have just been to load most of the equipment and let her do it acoustic, then if the storm got too close, it would be a much quicker packing job. I saw Eric church play through a rainstorm and when the lightning hit within so many miles of the venue, they went ahead and stopped, but he had gotten almost two hours in before that point.
July 3, 2023 @ 8:19 pm
Acoustic? Outdoors on a barge in a river? You gotta be kidding!
July 3, 2023 @ 2:32 pm
And just up the road Blackberry Smoke waited until midnight to fulfill their obligation to the promoters and most of all their fans… Because that’s just how awesome they are!
July 4, 2023 @ 6:43 am
Came here to point out the same thing. I really don’t have a problem throwing my money at BBS,
July 3, 2023 @ 3:47 pm
I generally don’t trust politicians, and I probably won’t start now. Sure, CP’s camp should return at least part of the money, but as far as the rest of it goes? I’ll probably stick to not trusting city officials.
July 3, 2023 @ 3:55 pm
I’ve had a few weather event concert experiences. Most recently we saw Jamey Johnson/ Blackberry Smoke at an outdoor pavilion open air. It poured a deluge of biblical proportions. Venue policy is rain or shine, no cancelations. We brought rain gear knowing how it was gonna be. The lawn area flooded out, mud everywhere, rednecks were using the hill as a shirtless mudslide. Security had two gorilla guys chasing the hillbillys around to try and stop them. Fail. Absolutely hilarious. And both acts played through it all! No refunds. Shut up, don’t complain, you got your music, hah hah.
Another time was The Mavericks at a local Fairgrounds. Venue canceled due to flooding. No refunds. Raul Malo got paid in full to not perform. Ouch. We fought it with credit card company and won!
Give em a concert Carly, or give em their money back. Right thing to do.
July 3, 2023 @ 5:59 pm
I was at a Clapton, and DMB concert like this. Some of the best concerts I’ve been to.
July 3, 2023 @ 4:24 pm
Oh. Maybe she is turning into a diva.
July 3, 2023 @ 9:22 pm
IMy instincts have always been that she’s not the wholesome girl she tries to personify.
July 6, 2023 @ 12:55 pm
You are saying Michael Ray escaped a gruesome fate?
July 3, 2023 @ 6:16 pm
Just up the road exactly 100 miles in Cincinnati, Taylor Swift went on an hour early to avoid the inclement weather that Saturday night. She tweeted out a 4 pm the time change. I mean if Queen Swift can be weather fluid….
July 3, 2023 @ 6:31 pm
Just saw that as well.
You can excuse being cautious to make sure fans and crew are safe. But where there’s a will there’s a way. How many times have we seen stories where inclement weather or some other issue comes up, and a band perseveres to make a memorable moment out of it. That’s what Blackberry Smoke did at Roostertail. That’s what Taylor Swift did in Cinci.
I like Carly Pearce. I think she’s an important woman in country music. But it really seems like the situation could have been handled better, perhaps by all parties.
July 3, 2023 @ 6:43 pm
George Jones smiles.
July 3, 2023 @ 7:28 pm
Haha. That was my first thought too.
July 3, 2023 @ 8:20 pm
Well I understand caution by Pearce but not offering to halve the money if aren’t willing to have a makeup date. This was all forecasted so could have at least had some backup ideas.
July 4, 2023 @ 12:29 am
The most shocking bit to me is her fee. Good luck to her if she can charge that much!
July 4, 2023 @ 7:29 am
That fee is actually low, especially for someone who won the CMA Female Vocalist of the Year in 2021. She may have given a discount to them because it was a free show and a city booking the show, I don’t know. And maybe that fed into the decision to cancel. But there are independent headliners making 5x-plus multipliers of that fee, and mid level acts making that much at big independent country festivals.
July 4, 2023 @ 9:14 am
Wow I had no idea. Good work if you can get it!
July 4, 2023 @ 4:52 am
I’ve never heard of this chick, but she “travels with a team of songwriters,” so I’m guessing she’s a talentless pop-country diva who looks really good.
Return the money, you twat.
July 5, 2023 @ 10:23 am
I disagree that she looks really good. She’d be a 7 without the botox lips. With the botox lips, she’s a 6.
She’s on the high end of average.
July 4, 2023 @ 5:19 am
What we’ve got here is…failure to communicate.
My money’s on both sides trying to save face by not telling the whole truth.
July 4, 2023 @ 8:50 am
I think you’re right. It was July 1, this is only July 4 so I doubt this has been settled yet. Seems also possible the city officials may have spouted off a bit too soon in the wrong way, which caused the CP side to respond.
July 4, 2023 @ 7:59 am
They should have had insurance for the show due to weather. That’s on them. On the other hand don’t think she deserves a full fee perhaps half.
July 4, 2023 @ 9:24 am
Damned if she does, damned if she doesn’t. A hard call. The weather is so unpredictable. The obvious solution is to play a show at a later date if that is possible. She has people to pay whether she performs or not.
July 4, 2023 @ 4:51 pm
Yup ! You can’t keep great players if you don’t pay em
July 4, 2023 @ 9:38 am
Another interesting twist is that after canceling the show due to weather safety concerns, Carley could be seen on her Instagram about 90 miles away attending the Taylor Swift concert in Cincinnati at an outdoor venue. Not a good look.
July 4, 2023 @ 8:56 pm
That was the night before.
July 4, 2023 @ 10:09 am
Just across the river, the Louisville bats played a full game while she was supposed to start. I’m going with the idea she didn’t take it serious. The weather wasn’t bad until later. I live near there. She has started to be a big star and wanted out in any way possible. The city officials are pretty responsive and more than likely were probably there. Rescheduling or returning the money would look better for her camp, especially with Jeff being a small town. I was at Tortuga when they started Kenny Chesney early due to storms. He stopped after 5 or 6 songs for a lightning delay. Then he camp back out and killed it. Carly was there too. She needs to learn from this mistake.
July 4, 2023 @ 3:37 pm
We’ve played in a monsoon. It sucks. All your expensive gear is at risk. This is the same high-end equipment that you must use for the rest of the year and you need to take care of it, and the fact that this venue didn’t provide a covered indoor alternative option shows that they weren’t really concerned about the safety of the public to begin with. The audiences safety is more important than any performance. It shouldn’t be the artist who makes this call. Carley isn’t a meteorologist . If the city didn’t go into cover my ass mode she might have rescheduled and bear in mind the cost of her crew to travel there to begin with. At least 35k for all that talent .
July 5, 2023 @ 3:36 pm
“At least 35k for all that talent…”
Lol. 35k. Maybe on Fantasy Island the musicians get that kind of bread, not in the real world. Her band, like most backup bands, don’t make anything near that. I know session players who have made made peanuts playing for superstars. Pearce is no superstar, and her band doesn’t cost 35K a day. ????
Artists like Alan Jackson and Garth Brooks, who have been known to pay their bands very well, are extremely rare.
July 5, 2023 @ 3:52 pm
It’s a lot more than just paying the musicians on the stage. Sometimes you have to bring the stage with you too. It takes a lot of qualified people that require payment to set up all that gear . You also have the travel time for all those people and the accommodations. And then there’s diesel, Tour buses get about 4 miles a gallon. It cost a lot physically and financially to put on these shows.
July 4, 2023 @ 3:51 pm
I understand her concern with weather. No issue with canceling. However like others not returning the money is just showing me that she is no different then many other performers in this industry just in it for the $$$$$$. She does not care about the people and the time it took for them to earn that money to attend this show.. Just disgusting ????…this is why I stopped going to concerts I work way too many hours to earn a little extra $ to have this happen to me pay $$$$ for nothing..
July 4, 2023 @ 3:56 pm
You got the part where it was a free concert, right? None of the fans paid to see her.
July 5, 2023 @ 9:42 am
Actually… they did! She was paid.. using TAXPAYERS MONEY.. so yeah.. it wasn’t free.
July 5, 2023 @ 3:02 pm
And you think if she returns that money the taxpayers are gonna get it back? They had to pay taxes regardless, so no, they didn’t pay for the concert.
July 5, 2023 @ 3:38 pm
@ Truth: People like Tommy believe all the free stuff from all levels of government comes from some magical place, and not out of the pockets of hard working citizens. ????
July 6, 2023 @ 9:12 am
Holy shit, some of you really are slow. You think if she hands the government officials back the money they’re going to give it back to the citizens? Surely to whatever god you believe in you don’t actually buy that.
These people didn’t get tickets in exchange for their tax money. Local government was gonna take their money with or without this concert.
July 4, 2023 @ 11:40 pm
“Return the money,” LOL, because it’s sure to find its way back to taxpayer hands, or maybe to another worthy cause of brilliant government spending. Of course the fans wanted to see her, and it’s reasonable to hope that an artist would do all that they can to play for those fans.
But this isn’t a financial issue for anyone—it was a free show. This isn’t a legal issue—the contract is reasonable, clear, and in her favor. And this shouldn’t be a political issue, unless maybe the local government explains beforehand where that money will be reallocated.
This is a nonstory made a story by mainstream outlets because Carli is popular and by this outlet because Carli straddles the line between pop-country and solid country that happens to be popular.
July 5, 2023 @ 7:45 am
Saving Country Music is not a mainstream outlet. Rolling Stone, Billboard, Taste of Country are mainstream outlets, and they haven’t covered this story. A reader of Saving Country Music who was there reached out when this happened, and the fact that you have the Mayor and the City making official statements about it makes it newsworthy. Saving Country Music has no beef or bias against Carly Pearce. As you point out, she is a mainstream artist with a more traditional sound, and if anything, these artists find favor here. This story doesn’t take a side. It presents all the information and allows the reader to decide. This is a complex situation and it seems like all parties are probably some in the right, and some in the wrong. With all the cancellations recently, it seemed like an important topic to open up for a greater discussion.
July 5, 2023 @ 5:30 am
I sure hope carley Peirce will reschedule her show for Jeffersonville fans we were all excited waiting for months to see her perform then the weather people were calling for bad weather that never happened not one sprinkle I do understand her canceling but sure hope she understands all the disappointed fans hope she reschedules that would be awesome
July 5, 2023 @ 7:34 am
At least she didn’t cancel because of a Duke-UNC final four game!
July 5, 2023 @ 8:59 am
I wasn’t going to be attending anyway but the weather in our area is very hit and miss, especially the last couple weeks leading up to the concert. Who is to say if she goes on early, the attendance may not be as much as it would’ve if she started on time. People may not get the message of an early start time. Playing in the rain is a little different than playing with lightning.
July 5, 2023 @ 1:30 pm
It’s pretty simple if she didn’t play she shouldn’t keep these taxpayers money no matter the reason they worked to pay her and she didn’t give back the money or reschedule
July 5, 2023 @ 2:15 pm
You would think somebody with “Jesus” in their Instagram bio would not steal money.
July 6, 2023 @ 10:26 pm
Manufactured controversy by the Jefferson PR people. Lightning storms + outdoor stage = disaster waiting to happen. Equipment could have been flooded, caught fire, etc.; risk of serious injuries to performers, crew, and fans. Canceling was the right decision here. Maybe Jefferson should have had an indoor backup option?
July 6, 2023 @ 10:40 pm
There is a good possibility that this was not paid for with taxpayer dollars, but from business sponsorships. No idea really, but a possibility. There are free concerts in Ohio paid for by the nonprofits organizations that put on the shows, and the money comes from businesses.
July 7, 2023 @ 7:00 am
https://www.whas11.com/article/news/local/indiana/carly-pearce-funds-jeffersonville-mayor-mike-moore-jammin-in-jeff-indiana/417-bcf2747a-02cc-42b4-b29c-8daf703ed3fa
August 8, 2024 @ 4:08 pm
This comments section proved prophetic.