Eddie Tice has been part of nearly every era of Buffalo’s modern concert history. As a musician with HC&T in the 1960s, as a partner in Festival East alongside Jerry Nathan, and later as the founder of Tice Productions, Tice’s name is woven through the city’s live-music story from the Hendrix era well into the 1980s and beyond. The Buffalo Music Hall of Fame inducted him as a Trustee for the cumulative impact of decades behind the scenes.
HC&T and the Performer Years
Before he became one of Buffalo’s most important promoters, Tice was a working musician. He played in the regionally beloved band HC&T, an outfit that gigged across Western New York and the Northeast during the 1960s. That performer’s perspective — knowing what bands need, what makes a show feel right, what frustrates touring acts about a market — would shape how he ran his promotion business once HC&T disbanded.
Festival East Concerts
Partnered with Jerry Nathan under the Festival East banner, Tice helped book and promote the era’s biggest tours into Buffalo’s Memorial Auditorium and other venues. The Buffalo Music Hall of Fame credits the duo with “hundreds of concerts” brought to the city — a list that includes Jimi Hendrix at the Aud in 1968 and the Superfest at the Stadium series at War Memorial Stadium and Rich Stadium. Festival East was the operation that made Buffalo a routine stop for national rock tours.
Tice Productions
After the Festival East years, Tice continued as an independent under Tice Productions, often partnering with Magic City Productions on regional dates. Per his Buffalo Music HOF citation, Tice Productions promoted “over 100 more major concerts.” That phase carried him through the 1980s and into an era when the touring industry was consolidating under national corporate brands — a period when independent regional promoters were becoming increasingly rare. Tice’s longevity through that transition speaks to the relationships and reputation he had built since the HC&T years.
Across performer, promoter, and partner roles, Eddie Tice’s career spans nearly the entire arc of modern Buffalo concert history. Few figures touched as many sides of the business — for as long — as he did.