Your VIP packages seem to be one of the best values out there. Is that an advantage to throwing an event of this scale?
“Absolutely! You don’t have to manage five-thousand VIP people, we only have a couple hundred VIP, and we offer one sweet-ass package that can be customized for the kid that wants to show off to his or her friends. The Ultimate Prairie Package allows someone to have their own personal driver, personal host, go wherever and whenever if that’s what they want to do. With our VIP, we really want to pay close attention to them, take care of them, everything from when they walk into the hotel, to when they arrive at the venue, they’re seeing Elektrik Prairie.
Our official headquarters is the Wyndham Garden Hotel in Stillwater. Attendees will walk in and we’ll have characters there dressed in costumes taking pictures with arriving guests. Our VIPs go into their room, and if they’re 21+, get hooked up with Beatbox (a proprietary party beverage in the shape of a ghettoblaster), a sweet tank top–we’re gonna hook ’em up with some swag–whatever we decide to put in the package, and our partners are also going to be throwing in some stuff too. It’s just something to show the guests that we’re excited they’re here.
We don’t make money off anything we put into VIP bags, we’re only trying to add value. I don’t know about you, but I like being driven around on a golf cart, or having someone bring me a beer, or whatever, maybe even a snack, it’s the little things like that that are cool.”
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Right, and even then, paying for this Elektrik Prairie VIP experience is only $80? And a General Admission ticket is $35?
“Yeah, and that’s for two days.”
That’s so incredibly affordable… and on Elektrik Prairie’s website, you mention that you’ll be surpassing last year’s $2 million production?
“Last year we had everything from LED panels to a huge sound system with lights, so instead of just doing stage lighting and barriers all around the stage, we’ve moved in new lights that combine lasers, lights, and beams onto a whole trussing system that’ll cover the entire crowd. You’ll feel like a part of the experience. Experience is my thing. We’re adding installations, we’re moving the entranceway outside, we’re adding one on the road, and we’re adding more visuals that you’ll see when you show up. The guy I’m working with is very experienced, he’s helped at Wakarusa, and he’s been in the business so long that he knows how to do things the right way without cutting corners. Everything you’ll see inside the arena is going to be cleverly placed. It’s not going to be like, “Oh hey, here’s the crumbling 3D mapped wall.” It’s going to be, “Look! There’s a light-up dance floor on the go-go boxes all around the front of house.” The front of house has a whole other trussing system with lights going around it, and we have a giant art wall when you walk into the arena instead of empty door space-you feel like you’re going into a coliseum.
There’s also scaffoldings, a catwalk, and VIP pits. And it’s not like the VIP cuts off the GA. No. The GA gets to go right up to the stage and then there’s another spot for VIP, so both groups will get to touch the stage in their own way. We wanted to make sure the GA experience isn’t sacrificed for the VIP. But sometimes, you know, the artists go, “Hey, fuck that, jump the fence,” then people who were VIP are suddenly surrounded by more people-they start bitching because they paid for a certain experience–and now there’s something wrong with the whole picture. It’s about changing that instead of saying, “Well, we’re just going to keep it that way.” What I want to do, maybe in year three or four, is put the DJ booth on an extendable or retractable catwalk that puts the artist out in the center of the crowd… How crazy would that be? Also, we have a live party DJ for intermissions, rather than playing someone’s iPod, there’s never going to be a break in the action. You’ve gotta keep the party going, you gotta keep people dancing, and you most certainly have to keep them thirsty. It’s a nonstop party, so when the end of the weekend rolls around, I want people to say: That was fucking incredible… I just partied my ass off.”
So this is the event’s second year, and it’s going to be on Halloweekend. Can you spill any details on how Elektrik Prairie will transform for Halloween and how it’s going to be different than last year?
“Last year everything happened in late September and there was a Thursday night football game. We thought that Thursday night people would go out to watch the game and be free all weekend to rage. Last year another promotions company came to town and scheduled a Juicy J and Trinidad James show the same night as we had Waka Flocka. It hurt us both. Neither of us did as well as we could have, and they shouldn’t have done that, but whatever. They were trying to cut me out of the market-they didn’t want me there. It’s just competition and I understand that, but they did some pretty shitty stuff. Fortunately, this time around, both OU and OSU have away football games, it’s Halloween weekend, and the holiday gives everyone an excuse to dress up and act a little crazy. In Oklahoma, the dance culture still gets judged and criticized a lot. Last year a lot of people dressed up, just to get in the festive mood, but this year, with Halloween, we’re expecting a lot more. I want people to feel comfortable doing that, to feel OK with being whoever and whatever they want to be. That’s why we chose the dream catcher as our icon, you can catch your dreams on the prairie. This year it’s going to be different because people who wouldn’t normally dress up-outside of flannel and cowboy boots-will have a reason to throw on a costume. And guess what? We get to expose what everybody experiences every time they go to a dance music event, maybe help somebody new understand the culture. They’ll get to experience what it’s like to dress up, to rave, to hang out with hot girls, to see a badass show, feel the sound, feel the energy, the love, all in a place free of judgment. It’s a great excuse to get out of the house. You couldn’t make it any better and I think that perfectly fits the Halloween schedule.
I didn’t realize how hard and expensive it was to book big artists on Halloween weekend. We are having to compete against other large Halloween events like Freaky Deaky, Voodoo, and some others. Everybody wants [big artists]. It’s the crossover market. But at the end of the day, when you think about it, all the people who typically wouldn’t dress up, or would rather go to a rock show or whatever, might just go because it’s a Halloween party. We’re going all out with the Halloween vibe. I mean, we’re also going to put a haunted house at the entrance, so all the lines will be decked out in decorations. People will have the opportunity to walk through the haunted house before they go in, or if that’s not their thing, they can just bypass it and hit up the show. It’ll still be around later if they want to walk through it afterwards.”
How is the actual barn going to be different this year?
“Last year you could see that it was open on the wings of the stage, there wasn’t a scrim coming from the top. So we’re going to do our best to make it feel like you’re part of the entire experience. Last year you knew you were in a barn, everyone thought it was cool, but something was missing. I mean, the way the building is set, it’s really open, everything is aluminum and steel and dirt. So now the front of house is set up with catwalks and go-gos, they’re going to be all around the front, and-it sounds crazy-but we might set up stripper poles on the boxes for the go-go dancers. The dancers will be able to climb on everything, do their dances – real cool and coordinated – lots of costume changes. The theme is “blood fantasy,” I told them to aim for something like that, you know, so it’s gruesome but it’s still gotta be sexy. With all that and the new entrance it’s going to look totally different.
We also worked out a deal with a local campsite about a mile down the road. It’s not going to be official, because of the insurance and liability, but there’s camping sites available. There’s also a bar whose owner has already agreed to let us bring down a few smaller acts who didn’t make the cut to perform on the main stage. I’ve got enough small equipment to set up down there for a nice unofficial after-party. And because it’s private property people can party all night if they want. Basically there’s around four hundred camping spots, live music, and a bar if you want to go when everything else is shutting down. The bar owner keeps everything, we’re just bringing him business.”
