SAN FRANCISCO (CelebrityAccess) — The San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission has put the kibosh on plans to stage a free 50th anniversary Summer of Love concert in Golden Gate Park.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the commission voted unanimously on Thursday to deny promoter Boots Hughston a permit for his planned June 4 event at the Polo Field in Golden Gate Park.
In making their decision, commission members cited concerns over public safety, traffic congestion, unlikely crowd size estimates, misrepresentation of facts, and suggested that Hughston find a promotion partner with more experience in producing large-scale events, the Chronicle reported.
While they invited Hughston to re-submit his permit application, their denial almost certainly means that the event will not take place in 2017.
On the festival's website, a post says they plan to appeal the commission's decision to the city's Board of Supervisors, but that the event is for now on hold.
Hughston told the Chronicle that he had invested 9 months on the project and planned to reimburse the city's costs of $200,000 for the event. Hughston had previously staged a 40th anniversary Summer of Love celebration in the park and had announced the 50th-anniversary event a few weeks ago, with a bill that allegedly included Eric Burdon and War, and the original rhythm section of the Santana Blues Band.
However, since Hughston's initial announcement, several people associated with the bands supposedly on the lineup have since stated that they were not confirmed for the show
“This world is full of deluded characters spreading false information for their own opportunistic purposes, I feel like I must burst their bubble and expose them to reality. " Eric Burdon's wife and manager Marianna Burdon wrote on Facebook. "Eric was never confirmed, as I declined the appearance immediately and the fact is, War was never even mentioned in our discussion.” – Staff Writers
