Anti-Drug Concert That Counts Falls Apart, Is Canceled

The Concert That Counts, the ambitious, but troubled, anti-drug project that had briefly enjoyed the support of First Lady Nancy Reagan, has been canceled.

In a statement released Wednesday, Tony Verna, co-founder of Global Media Ltd., said the event fell through because it did not receive the “spontaneous efforts needed for (its) success.”

Earlier this week, the program was moved because of poor ticket sales from the 92,000-seat Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to the 14,000-seat Long Beach Arena, where it was divided into two four-hour concerts, scheduled for April 25 and 26.

Designed as a vehicle for pop music performers and other celebrities “to step forward and be counted on the issues of drug and alcohol abuse,” the Global Media project had run into problems since plans surfaced in February.

The original concept called for a single 11-hour concert at the 105,000-seat Rose Bowl. As first planned, the event was to have featured such major pop names as Madonna, the Beach Boys and George Michael, but those acts never materialized and promoters had trouble lining up others.