Produced by the Office of Marketing and Communications
Alum Brings Big Concerts to Sin City
Photo collage by Lauren Biagini
Staging a Cole Field House concert during basketball season under coach Gary Williams’ reign was like trying to make a half-court shot.
But for musical greats Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell, Sid Greenfeig ’99 (below) hit nothing but net.
He and fellow Student Entertainment Events (SEE) members raced across the arena the moment the final buzzer sounded one November evening in 1998, removing courtside chairs and loading in equipment throughout the night for the next day’s sold-out show.
“You’re 21 years old and you’re setting up for two legends,” says Greenfeig. “It was really cool.”
Today, he’s booking Grammy award-winner Adele for a months-long stop
at Caesars Palace and K-pop superstars BTS at Allegiant Stadium as Live
Nation’s senior vice president of concerts in Las Vegas. Business is
booming as consumers shift their spending to experiences and more
artists turn to live shows—particularly convenient residencies—to make
money in the streaming age.
“My favorite moment of every show is before the artist takes the stage, when it’s completely dark and the crowd just goes ballistic—just knowing that I had a part in this moment for everyone in the room,” he says.
As a finance major at UMD, Greenfeig had never considered an entertainment career until friend Jared Paul ’99 asked him to help with a SEE show. After getting his first taste of backstage access, Greenfeig joined the club to book major acts, starting with the Wu-Tang Clan.
“It was one of the scariest nights at the beginning,” he says, due to
a miscommunication about payment, which he and Paul quickly sorted out.
Once the hip-hop group got onstage, it got the crowd so pumped
up—Method Man even hung from the rafters—that students damaged the newly
renovated Ritchie Coliseum and got SEE banned from the facility for a
few years.
Undeterred, he and Paul teamed up again shortly after graduation, this time overseeing entertainment at the new MCI Arena in Washington, D.C.
“People would see two kids, and they’d try to take advantage and call us every name there was,” he says. “But that’s where we cut our teeth.”
His work for Madison Square Garden, MGM Resorts and now Live Nation
has taken him from south Florida to Los Angeles to Philadelphia. Las
Vegas’ unusual venues, including the recently opened Sphere with its
unique audio and visual capabilities, make it an essential stop for
performers, he says. He oversees marketing, ticket sales and logistics,
juggling multiple shows at once.
Not having a traditional 9-to-5
has been tough at times as he and wife Amy Herr Greenfeig ’00 grew their
family. Overseeing concerts can keep him out until 2 a.m., and a call
about a last-minute snafu could pull him from the sidelines of a soccer
game. But these days, his three kids (especially the 15-year-old) have
caught on that Dad has the connections to get them into the hottest
shows, such as the iHeartRadio Music Festival.
He credits UMD with steering him on the path to success, Greenfeig
says, especially Stamp Student Union Director Marsha Guenzler-Stevens,
who put her trust in “a couple of idiots” when he and Paul, now an
entertainment manager, led SEE.
“She gave me a huge opportunity,”
Greenfeig says. “Now, I’ve created a career and lifestyle, and I
wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
Robert H. Smith School of Business Student Entertainment Events (SEE)
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