A majority of the profits from Lynyrd Skynyrd's upcoming concert at the U.S. Coast Guard Base in Elizabeth City will be donated to a base office that works to boost morale of Coast Guard personnel and their families.

Tony Buero, director of the Morale, Well-Being and Recreation Office at the base, said 95 percent of the proceeds from the Sept. 13 event will go toward MWR's efforts organizing sports teams, family outings and other activities. The rest of the profits, he said, will go to the Wounded Warrior Foundation, an organization that works with severely wounded soldiers and their families.

Photo courtesy Radio Media Productions (ENLARGE)

Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Southern rock band shown here in a promotional photo, will perform a concert at the U.S. Coast Guard Base in Elizabeth City on Sept. 13.

Tickets for the Southern rock band's concert will go on sale Aug. 1 through etix.com, the event's official ticket Web site.

Les Atkins, spokesman for Radio Media Productions, the concert's promoter, said his firm and SRO Productions of Roanoke, Va., are negotiating to have local businesses also sell tickets, but that has not been finalized.

The concert will be held at the Morale, Well-Being and Recreation field on the base. Gates will open at 6 p.m. with the opening band starting at 7 p.m. Lynyrd Skynyrd will begin playing at 9 p.m. Atkins said the band's concerts typically last 90 minutes.

Atkins said the opening band has not been selected yet, but is usually announced before tickets go on sale.

The 7,500 tickets for sale will include several thousand for reserved seating at $40 each. The remaining tickets will be general admission and sell for $25 in advance and $35 the day of the show. General admission seating will be on the MWR field. Military discounts will be available through the MWR office, Buero said.

Because the event is geared toward families, children 12 and under will get in free, he said.

Vendors will be selling food and drinks at the concert, Buero said. He's hoping for an atmosphere similar to that at Waterfront Park on the Fourth of July, and is anticipating an audience of 7,000.

"If we get that number, it will be awesome," Buero said.

The MWR office chief said he has long wanted to bring a concert to the base.. So when John Vick, of Radio Media Productions, approached him about scheduling a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert here, Buero leapt at the opportunity to take the idea up the chain of command.

Buero said the base has played host to other concerts, but none as large as the Lynyrd Skynyrd event promises to be.

"The big difference is we're having this concert, and we're making it available to the public to attend," Buero said. "... (The Coast Guard) hardly ever (does) that on base here."

Because the concert will be on base, Buero reminds potential attendees that parking will be scarce. To get concert-goers on base, MWR plans to operate a shuttle from the Southgate Mall parking lot the day of the concert. Shuttle times will be announced later.

Buero also reminds potential ticket-buyers that tailgating and coolers will not be allowed on base, and those attending will be subject to searches and must follow base rules. Attendees must also have forms of identification as well as their tickets to get in.

Radio Media Productions and SRO Productions are coordinating three of the band's concerts in September, Atkins said. On Sept. 11, Lynyrd Skynyrd will be in Danville, Va., and the next day will give a concert at Appalachian State University, before heading to Elizabeth City.

"I think certainly to bring this caliber of act to Elizabeth City is certainly exciting," Atkins said.

He said promoters chose to donate some of the Sept. 13 concert proceeds to the Wounded Warrior Foundation in part because the event will be held on a military base.

"We thought it was just a really good organization," Atkins said. "They're doing a lot for these young men and women who are returning" from war zones.

To reach etix.com by telephone, call 800-514-3849. For military discounts, contact the base's MWR office at 335-6482.