PRESCOTT VALLEY, AZ — Among the American firefighting community, the only day more tragic than June 30, 2013 was Sept. 11, 2001. June 30 was the day when 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots from the Prescott Fire Department lost their lives fighting a wildfire near here, leaving behind 51 children. Dierks Bentley, The Band Perry and other artists teamed up and raised a reported $476,000 with the “Country Cares Concert,” a benefit performance that took place here on July 22. All proceeds are going to the United Phoenix Firefighters, for direct distribution to surviving family members.
“Tickets went on sale on Friday (July 12); they were sold out within five hours,” noted Joe Spitzer, who operates Peaks Audio out of Flagstaff, AZ, of the event, set to take place at Tim’s Toyota Center, a 5,100-seat arena in Prescott Valley.
Along with Peaks Audio, Clearwing Productions pledged its support for the event, Spitzer said, with the Milwaukee office backing the Phoenix location’s support. “We initially contacted them about renting gear for this,” Spitzer noted. “They immediately were on board and for the cause.”
Clearwing’s participation has expanded the gear package from “a 12-hang per side L-Acoustics KARA system to a 9-hang V-Dosc with 3-dV downfill per side, an 8-Hang KARA outfill per side, 12 SB28’s, [Avid Venue] Profiles at FOH and monitors, and 20 Senheiser IEM’s,” Spitzer added. “Studio Instrument Rentals (SIR) has been gracious enough to donate all of the backline and assist with 10 of the 20 IEM’s,” he said.
Prescott Pro Sound and John Malott also provided a complete camera and video system and got in touch with Cox and CBS on doing a live stream of the event on the Internet. John Garberson with Creative Backstage provided an LED Video Wall for the front entrance of the venue with the live feed as well, Spitzer added.
Other event supporters included Southwest Stagehands, which provided riggers, and Spitzer also credited “Kerry Dunne and Reed Glick with R Entertainment Company are the promoters and have been at the heart of making this concert happen.” He also credited his business partner, Jason Moeller, for handling the production advance.
Other key sponsors included radio stations KMLE Country (107.9 FM) and KAFF Country (92.9 FM).
