LOS ANGELES:

About a year ago, when wacky rock duo Ween still had “that newcar smell,” as manager Patrick Jordan refers to the 90s indie phenoms’ reunion, the band’s Denver promoter called. “If you want to play Red Rocks next year,” he said, “you better start challenging dates.”

So in May 2016, Jordan contacted the City of Denver, which runs Red Rocks Amphitheatre in nearby Morrison, Colorado, with his choice of 2017 dates. Another act, represented by an agency (WME, CAA, UTA, ICM and APA all have robust music touring departments that work with Red Rocks), had already reserved them. Jordan requested a challenge, but he lost — the other act paid Red Rocks $15,000 to maintain its date and keep Ween away. In the end, Ween found a new date, this coming July 12, and sold out the 9,500-capacity venue in a day.

Doing all this so early caused anxiety for Ween, which hadn’t even begun its 2017 touring schedule. “We don’t book that far in advance, so that was taking a risk,” Jordan says. “They’ve just recently reunited, and we weren’t sure where it was going.” (RTRS)