In an email to ticketholders this afternoon, the National Quartet Convention (via iTickets) announced that seating for the 2024 event in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee will return to the center stage configuration mostly recently used in 2019. One slight difference from the 2019 layout is that center aisles are being added to the diagonal sections (103, 107, 111, and 115) to accommodate more requests from attendees who prefer aisle seating.

Contact iTickets right away (nqc@itickets.com) if you are a 2024 NQC ticketholder who did not receive the email today.

The email requests that ticketholders express their preference for new seat assignments. You must click within the body of the email in order to respond, so your response will be attached to your specific ticket order.

You may request:
1. to have the same seats you had in 2019 (the last year the event featured the center stage layout),
2. to have your 2019 location upgraded by moving closer to an AISLE if possible, or
3. to have your 2019 location upgraded by moving closer to the FRONT if possible.
4. Those who did not attend in 2019 will be assigned seats according to best availability.

The deadline to respond is next Friday, December 8.

Background
Longtime NQC attendees were accustomed to the center stage setup during the years the convention was held in Louisville, Kentucky. For many years, this included the novelty of a spinning stage, but that feature was eventually abandoned during the 2000s. In 2014 when NQC relocated to the brand-new LeConte Center in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, the familiar “in the round” setting continued.

NQC was not held in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but a smaller event billed as NQC Fall Festival was held at the same venue with limited, socially-distanced seating. (2020 NQC tickets rolled over to 2021.) The stage for this Fall Festival was positioned at the back wall rather than the center of the room and a majority of artists expressed a preference for the end stage layout.

The NQC Board of Directors decided to implement the end stage setup for the main event’s official return in the fall of 2021, and the end stage configuration continued for the 2022 and 2023 events. Ticketholders received surveys from NQC after the 2021, 2022, and 2023 events. The 2021 and 2022 surveys covered various facets of NQC like food quality/pricing, temperature levels, etc., but the 2023 survey exclusively sought feedback regarding the stage position.

Today’s email is a result of that feedback, stating (in part), “…it is clear that NQC attendees have a strong desire to return to a center stage configuration. In response to this very clear desire, NQC is returning to a center stage in 2024.”