Issue link: http://www.wacmagazine.com/i/1020464
SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2018 39 t's Saturday night and Phil Abbess, the WAC's new Chairman of the Board, is standing across the street from CenturyLink Field. Upstairs, wife Michelle is hosting a few friends for pre-concert drinks on the rooop deck of e Wave, a shiny condo building on the south edge of Pioneer Square. Phil and Michelle, along with 18-month-old daughter Sophia, live in West Seattle, but a friend offers his place here when the couple needs a quick hangout. Dressed in Levi's, a gray T-shirt, boots, and a baseball cap, Phil leads the way upstairs. "It's going to be the best suite in the house," he says. "Fiy people. Kenny Chesney. e environment is going to be ripe." It's still a few hours before Chesney takes the stage, but the rooop pre-party has begun. I Phil knows good concert seats like few others. As co-own- er of Flame Productions, he and a business partner hold the exclusive rights to produce Live Nation events in a three-state area. Among his friends, Phil is the guy to call when they need seats. Tonight, it's Chesney, the current king of country music, along with Old Dominion and omas Rhett—headliners in their own right. "Country knows how to do it," Phil says. "Stack up the acts, pay everyone, and sweep up the money." Phil took over as WAC Chairman on August 1. At 43 years old, he's the youngest person to hold the role since Rob Dun- lop (2009–2010). He's also quite likely one of the most socially connected people you'll ever meet. When he's not securing private suites to sold-out shows, he's hosting a couple hundred of his closest friends at tailgate parties outside Seahawk and