Sting concert hanging by a thread

[aspasia]

The concert is said to be hanging by a thread and to be on the point of being cancelled because of the lack of tickets sold - half the 13,000 capacity is still available - and also because of the logistics and requirements set down by Sting and his team for the production. Roberto Gutiérrez, producer of the concert in Tenerife, said that the problems have to be resolved this weekend, and that he will hold a press conference on Monday at 10am. At this point, it seems just as likely to be an announcement of a cancellation as it is to be a marketing push to sell the remaining tickets.

[Perikles]

I actually started to be interested, until I noticed there was no 'r' in Sting. 

[Phil]

Brilliant!

[aspasia]

And as expected, the promoter has announced in a press conference this morning that the concert has been cancelled. I'll post any details about refunds as soon as they become available. JA

[aspasia]

 Despite arguments over the reason for the cancellation, with the Tenerife promotors blaming the logistics and requirements set by Sting and his team, Sting's own promoter for his tour has placed the blame firmly on the lack of tickets sold. Live Nation denied the allegations of unreasonable demands and said that the Canarian production company had not fulfilled its contract and that the true reason for the cancellation was the failure to make the payments to which they had committed, the direct result of the lack of ticket sales. JA

[aspasia]

Points of sale say that they are not yet authorized to refund money on the 6,000 tickets sold for the concert because they have not received official communication from Ticketmaster. Promoter Maldito Rodríguez says that refunds should become available in around a fortnight.

[aspasia]

Ticketmaster announced today that it has now started to refund ticket prices, and that it is to start legal action against the promoters for fraud, improper appropriation, defamation and damages. The statement said that Ticketmaster deeply regretted the inconvenience caused by the cancellation, but stressed that it was not caused by Ticketmaster itself, and that it was hoped to resolve the matter satisfactorily for all even though it was the promoter who should have refunded monies collected for the 5,300 or so tickets sold.

Because there is to be legal action to recover the monies from the promoter, Ticketmaster said that refunds for tickets will have to be made in the place where they were originally bought and will require the original ticket to be handed in. Those bought by phone or online must be returned by post to Ticketmaster at Calle Pallars, 193 – 08005 Barcelona. The refund process will close on 16 July.  JA