The Super Bowl and WM Phoenix Open occurring in the same week in Arizona provided the holy grail of events for promotional companies, and Thomas Turner of Relentless Beasts showed his passion for putting on parties all week long.
Turner founded Relentless Beasts in 1996 as a vehicle for showcasing underground dance music. Today, Turner’s company is Arizona’s leading promoter of electronic and dance music events producing over 400 events a year that book over 500 artists.
“For years I followed promoting as a hobby, but within a few years I was producing quite a few events annually and after five years producing 20 to 25 events annually,” says Turner. “There is a taxation cause and my accounts told me that it is not really a hobby because you are doing lots of business. Eventually turned into a full-fledged business with the intent to earn and give people a great place to work in the arts and entertainment space.”
Turner has grown his company to produce such popular and massive events as: Goldrush Music Festival, PHXLIGHTS, Body Language, DUSK, Decadence AZ and more. Despite all the years of experience in event production, the Super Bowl was the cream of the crop.
“I’ve worked around the Super Bowl before, but this is the largest call to duty that the company has received by far,” says Turner. “I think the largest presentation of Super Bowl parties and events that I have seen, at least in the amount of marketing and preparation to host.”
Turner and Relentless Beasts were ready to take on the challenge of hosting 24 parties and events in the span of four days. Established loyalty with top artists and managers made it easier to book performers for each event. In addition, Relentless Beasts has an ongoing partnership to collaborate on events with big-name venues, such as Talking Stick Resort and Casino, Sun Bar in Tempe, as well as W Scottsdale and Maya Day & Nightclub
Putting on all these events takes more than just one man and one business.
“I have worked with Adam (Richman) and Joe (Silberzweig) who co-founded Medium Rare (sports and entertainment company) for a lot of my career and are some of my best friends,” says Turner. “We have been talking for five years, since we have known the Super Bowl was coming to Arizona, about what would make Shaq’s funhouse, Sports Illustrated, and Gronk events the best events in the city. We built a custom site with some underutilized parking space adjacent to Talking Stick Resort with a full carnival and concert space. These events are going to be excellent and really well done.”
Now that the Kansas City Chiefs have been crowned Super Bowl champions and fans return home, all the fanfare and chaos has finally settled. In just a night, Phoenix went from the sports entertainment capital of the world back to the quiet Valley of the Sun. For Turner, this means he can finally relax.
“There is an immense amount of satisfaction in hearing the feedback we hear from our fans whether that be we did a great job or constructive criticism,” says Turner. “I think that making sure everybody gets home safe and hopefully has the best weekend ever is the ultimate goal.”
Learn more about upcoming events by Relentless Beats at www.relentlessbeats.com.
Photos courtesy Relentless Beats
