Coming off last Thursday’s Lynyrd Skynyrd and ZZ Top concert in Biloxi, officials with the Mississippi Coast Coliseum have released some details regarding what they’re calling one of the biggest merchandise scams the venue has ever seen.
Per a report from WLOX, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s merchandise manager informed coliseum workers that a group of suspects had been selling bootlegged apparel at the band’s previous stops on its 50th-anniversary tour. That’s when coliseum workers and security swooped in and confiscated 200-plus counterfeit t-shirts.
Matt McDonell, executive director of the Mississippi Coast Coliseum, told the local TV station that not only is it taking money away from all parties involved but also resulting in concertgoers getting a lesser product.
“We take the position that it’s taking money from the band. It’s taking money from the venue. It’s taking money from the people that are hired to sell the product, and it’s certainly taking revenue from the Mississippi Department of Revenue,” McDonell said. “We just are pretty aggressive about it here at the coliseum. We don’t want it to happen. The product is inferior. The people who buy it think they are getting a real, licensed product from their favorite band and they’re not.”
Bootlegged merchandise is not new, but according to a report from Moneywise, there’s been a rise in fake apparel showing up at concerts that could be attributed to Taylor Swift’s record-breaking Eras Tour. For instance, an official Eras Tour t-shirt runs for $55 while counterfeit ones have been spotted on sale for as low as $14.29.
As for Skynyrd and its recent run-in with bootlegged merchandise, the band is hopeful the Biloxi incident will halt some of the fake merchandise going around at upcoming stops in Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin.
