damn said:

You are making a mistake if you believe anything MCD tell you.
I've been communicating with them all through this fiasco and they have thrown out bullshit at every turn.

Prince is alive to stand on a stage and belt out the tunes.... For him to cancel a gig, there must be more to it than "oh... i've decided against it". Come on people... await the reason before you blame him. Won't u feel crap if it turns out someone is ill, injured or, fingas x-ed not, someone has died... Or maybe there's a legal issue, or... or... or...

"Oh no. It's Prince's fault! I'm swapping my Prince CDs for a bluegrass compilation, burning my books and eating meat again!"

I do feel genuinely sorry for all of you who have gots tickets, flights, hotels etc... Have been trying to get a sensibly priced since the day of issue... Have been cursing my luck until today. But I don't feel better for it.

jonylawson said:

You charmer.

Judging from your impressive tally of posts, I'd say that's closer to being a fam than one disappointed and emotional post.

But thank you for being so nice. Made me feel much better thanks. x
[Edited 6/10/08 16:08pm]

has anyone told the eBay sellers this concert has been canceled, cause they are still selling tickets on their just hope the buyers/bidders know its been canceled or they will be a few more unhappy fans mind you they will probably blame prince.

Mirabelle said:

nothing is stopping all of y'all from still meeting up. so what the concert got cancelled, ur friendships that u could make from a get 2gether can b just as memorable.

cream72 said:

I've reported every single listing to ebay, so hopefully they will take them down.
I told ebay the sellers may not know it has been cancelled so may not be their fault (I only found out today!)
There are going to be thousands of people who have bought tickets off ebay turning up at the gig because not everybody reads this website and they wouldn't have been emailed...

Barbara07 said:

I feel 4 everyone. The same thing has happened to me be4, after traveling a long distance to see him and then cancelled at the last minute. Lack of an explanation makes it even worse. I know just like me, people work hard for their money and this happens. I know I felt the hit to my bank account when it happened to me. I know in my case, it was just that Prince didn't want to play that night. It's bad enough when U wait for him and he's three hours late but cancelling w/out giving a reason is just another slap in the face. I know in the last few years my "die hardness" 4 concerts went way down. I def. won't plan a long trip around a concert. I remember a time when Prince never cancelled. Many of us kept him in those custom tailored outfits during the "less then popular years" and I feel he takes us 4 granted. I hope that everyone finds a way to get over the dissapointment but I know 4 some, it will always leave a bitter taste.

This response is 4 those people that wrote that "you'll feel bad if someone was badly hurt or worse." Um, let me remind those people of the Emancipation concert that Prince did for MTV and VH1. I could tell something was wrong watching him perform that night but he still went out their on what had to be one of the worst times in his life. If U don't remember the night and what was going on in his personal life, do your research. I don't speak of what happened because I've been there and it's so painfull. So, no I highly doubt it was something along those lines...Most likely it was a contract dispute about something...Not telling the fans the truth makes it even worse.

unkleg said:

Yeah, the first night of ONA in London we had problems with the tickets and seating. Those of us who had queued since the morning got in to find we had numbered seats at the back, people who turned up at doors opening were at the front. It was meant to be GA for the NPGMC (hence the all day queuing). Some of us stood our ground and security (Hammersmith Apollo security) kept saying that if we didn't sit in our assigned seats they'd be no concert (OK dude). Some guy had the brass ones to to go up one of the dudes on stage and asked him to go get Prince, who promptly came out, listened to what we were saying and got it sorted out for us. He then spent some time just talking to us about different things. This was well before he came out to do the soundcheck. He wasn't even made up or anything yet.

Yeah don't burn your CD's just yet. But ladies, by all means, please feel free to burn your bras. They're a waste of time...oh, I geddit I think. Maybe that's what it is I do that freaks the ladies out. Maybe they don't like me burning their bras? But I always made sure they weren't in them at the time. Man, women are confusing.
[Edited 6/10/08 18:39pm]

My thoughts go to all those who had invested in- and expected so much from this concert. I myself flew twice from Moscow to London last year to see him, so I realize how much is being mobilized to make one's 'little musical dreams' come true.

Having said this, we still don't know what the real reasons are. And I doubt Prince took the decision lightly.
Also, we cannot reasonably expect him to be responsible for our own decisions and how we manage our financial affairs - and that includes booking non-refundable fares and hotel rooms.

My take on all this, is that as an artist, he really doesn't owe us anything.

figures

roughly though 50000 tickets sold, say an average of 100 euros=so 500000 euros

The exchange rate is about $1.75 to 1 Euro That's $8750000. Say Prince makes about 10% He's still going to make about a million dollars...

that's not including merchandise sales

rough figures i know, but i doubt Prince would be saying 'why should i do that when i can get $4m for a gig in the states?'

why do 21 gigs in London at a really cheap ticket price?

CosmicDancer said:

Ace said:

well, this is the first time I've been shafted, so I'll reserve judgement.
Also, MCD are notorious for being wankers and liars. Feels like MCD had a lot to do with this. Even non-prince fans in Dublin were all talking about MCDs reputation yesterday.

EmulPedmon said:

From the Press Association, are you sure it was MCD???!!! ;

'Construction of the stage at the GAA arena had already begun, but crew were told to bring their work to halt after Prince's management contacted promoters to cancel the trip.

One insider claimed that it was Prince's decision alone not to travel for the concert despite eight months of planning that had gone into the night, including a Garda traffic management plan.

The concert had been heavily advertised as the last time the hugely influential artist would play his greatest hits in Ireland. MCD said plans were already under way to try to reschedule the concert for next year. '

Flo6 said:

REALLY?!!!!! I think he needs a new director of information and PR. Not 2 give a reason for canceling a show with 55 000 wildly expecting crowd, is really a dumb and stupid act. Yes, sure...there might be illness or other serious things that made him cancel. But they should make an official statement. They don´t have 2 tell exactly what, but yes he DO OWE us more information than a statemant from MCD that says nada. This event is actually a big concert event in the whole of europe this summer. The press in most contrys has coverd this event. Again...really silly not 2 release some sort of official information. There will just be a lot of speculations, rumours and bad feelings not doing this correct and proffessionel. He is a superstar - not a guitarplayer with a mouthorgan playing pubs. He choose his proffesion himself and wants 2 make money outta it all. With this choice, also follows presshandeling etc. Yes he is a musical genious and an artist. BUT also a businessman! (Mmmmm felt good to spell out some after yesterdays dissapointment

Woke up the morning after the cancellation and still feel sick....can't even manage breakfast, and can't bear the thought of listening to Prince songs yet.....

hello i honestly feel bad for you guys.
u know what and i know its hard but i would do just what someone suggested...and you that have plane tickets and hotels what dont all of you that planned on meeting just make a party. i know that sound insaine and i know u all are dissapointed..but try and turn it into a poistive..u can still meet orgers and have a nice wee vacation..you already had it planned anyway. just a thought. please dont throw a rock at me.
i would be dissapointed too.

monkee said:

Why would they be putting up Prince's Stage when Neil Diamond is Performing there on Saturday it doesnt make any sense also MCD said it was Beyond Prince's Control i say wait until people hear the real reason.

"hey funky ireland!! whohoo!! - I can totally 100% confirm that the gig is going ahead, my sources are never wrong!! whohoo funky ireland blah blah"

onlymatt said:

You forgot to type in blue

i bet if he is gonna play next year instead, he will jus wait for the point to re-open, it would be a much more suitable size for him
i think he bit of more than he could chew playing croker

i'd gold circle, and was really excited,
ticketmaster should give us a pre-sale next year for letting us down

If they could't sell out the whole stadium, maybe they would have done better having the gig A- at the weekend and B- not having such overpriced tickets that the average person was not going to pay for.

go here for a little more info on the cancellation and it had nothing to do with ticket sales or prince wanting to piss his fans of on purpose http://www.housequake.com...did=103159

This is based on sources for Housequake and turnitup's opinion

EmulPedmon said:

I love your story because it shows people that prince after all is just a person, who probably has reasonably good intentions for his fans. I think he is misinformed and uninformed by his entourage who run the whole shebang for him and perhaps his life, increasingly.

People are sychophants and want to be seen pleasing him (hence the dense security), but in reality he felt humble enough to go listen to his fans and get it sorted.

This whole croke thing probably washes over him, i doubt he worries about flights and costs etc. If he took on board every idea of every ill, handicapped, poor, crazed fan and their woes it would be very hard for him to make any business decisions and being a pop star is a business.

No Im not happy about the cancellation and felt down yesterday, but life goes on. Every cloud has a silver lining - we can still visit dublin and meet up with friends off the org. We all bought tix knowing there was an outside chance of a cancellation, it was a gamble.

shit happens in life, anything else in your lives could have happened to prevent you from going and therefore lose the money. Life is for living so go have fun anyway!

EmulPedmon said:

Well I was there and that was not what happened. We all ASSUMED it was free allocation seating. The venue told us otherwise. We all got our tickets numbers and no one would have been "at the back" as the soundcheck audience only filled the front 8 rows.

I like many others who had queued that day no longer saw the need to rush like animals to the front as we all had seat numbers. So we hung back in the foyer, taking a pee, drink etc. Then, when the doors opened the crazed fams bum rushed the front and refused to move to their allocated seats, like a bunch of petulant children.

Prince spoke to the managers because he had a few suprises lined up for some fans who were deliberately allocated the front middle seats. He couldn't carry out the suprise because the fams hogging the front refused to move.

The manager and Prince decided for safety that the suprises would be dropped and that they would have to keep everyone where they were or cancel the soundcheck.

So many people missed out on some extras because of some fams inhability to follow simple rules.

Irish Times article places the blame with Prince, see below:



"PRINCE HAS cancelled his Croke Park show next Monday without an explanation for his fans or concert promoters MCD.

Prince's management informed MCD of the decision in the early hours of yesterday. Although rumours had been circulating for days that the notoriously volatile star, who turned 50 this week, was about to cancel, MCD believed the concert was still on as late as Monday afternoon.

Though officially MCD are stating that the cancellation was due to circumstances "beyond the control" of either themselves or Prince, it is understood the decision was down to Prince himself.

MCD is said to be furious with Prince's decision, especially given that the scheduled date is just five days away and the promoter is likely to lose thousands of euro as a result of the cancellation.

MCD said more than 55,000 tickets were sold for the event, which had a capacity of 62,000. The firm said rumours of poor ticket sales were well off the mark.

"The stage was being built, everything was in place for it. The concert was on course to be sold out. It has nothing to do with money or contracts. The guy's just being a superstar. He just didn't want to do it," said one industry source.

MCD will hope to recover the booking deposit from Prince without having to go to litigation, which could take years.

Prince has a reputation for regularly cancelling shows. His only other European shows on the tour, in Paris and Milan, were cancelled several months ago.

Uniquely among major artists, he does not have an official website to offer an explanation to fans.

Long-suffering fans were scathing about his decision on various websites. "People went out of their way for Prince, and we have pretty much been treated like s**t . . . how rude of him and his people." Another wrote: "I'm fed up defending you (Prince). You don't care about anyone but yourself. Just do us a favour and retire," while a third wrote: "There's no way Prince can let down 80,000 fans (sic), but my God, he did."

The cancellation will seriously inconvenience UK fans who were due to travel for the only show in Britain or Ireland that the artist was scheduled to do this year.

Ticket holders, who paid between €66.50 and €125.50, excluding handling fees, can obtain a full refund including booking fee from their Ticketmaster point of purchase from 9am on Friday.

It is not the first time that MCD has been let down by a volatile star. Eminem cancelled his concert at Slane in 2005 citing "exhaustion", and MCD, which claimed losses of €2.1 million from that cancellation, had to make an out of court settlement with three insurance companies as a result.

Croke Park stadium director Peter McKenna said they were as mystified about the cancellation as everybody else. "It is a temperamental business and artists and performers are probably the most temperamental," he said. "We're annoyed and disappointed. There is a huge amount of planning that has gone into that . . .There are knock-on effects all the way down and suppliers have to cancel orders and a lot of people who were due to work that night will now have to cancel."

Im sure a lot of you have read this , but 4 u that hav not ,
explains a lot and very well wrote , stilll gutted thou


http://www.housequake.com...did=103159

daibhi said:

Holy shit, what I said about Prince made it into the paper, hahahahah