Killiow, Truro - Sept 2008

[Richard]

You mustn't blame yourself, Joyce!

I've now removed the concerts from Hayley's 2008 Schedule.

Richard

[drew]

Aug 22, 2008 11:53:26 GMT @roger said:

I have just received the following statement from Bedlam Management specifically for HWI members which I reproduce in full:

Truro Concerts Cancelled


Bedlam Management were informed on Wednesday evening of the cancellation of the Killow Music Spectacular Festival 2008, Truro, Cornwall.
We received the following statement from organizer Charles Moon:


"Sadly, after long and painful deliberation, we had to take the decision to cancel, due to inadequate ticket sales and an astronomical financial demand from De Boer (the concert marquee company).
Would you kindly express our sincere regret to Hayley as so many people were looking forward to hearing her sing in Cornwall. As you can imagine we are all devastated."


Hayley is upset that she will not be able to perform in Cornwall and was greatly looking forward to meeting local fans as well as helping support CLIC Sargent, The Princes Trust and Children In Need..

Roger

It is sad that HWI (and the local newspaper) posted the cancellation before Bedlam were even informed.

It is so much nicer when HWI tell Hayley of the concerts that she is going to perform in before she knows.

[stevemacdonald]

...The Killiow 2008 event was cancelled after only 4,000 tickets of 14,000 available were sold.
A question mark remains over when and if ticket-buyers will be refunded.
Ticket holders paid between £20 and £100 each for seats. ...

Obviously the tickets were too high-priced or they would have sold many, many more and everyone would be happy. Money is tight everywhere and concert organisers need to take this into account.

[dutchjoyce]

Aug 22, 2008 13:22:18 GMT Richard said:

You mustn't blame yourself, Joyce!



Richard

Oh no Richard.........i don't do that!!
Just thinking about this event, the big Marquee, up to 12.000 seats................why such a big one??

Greetz Joyce.
This Marquee looks better........................up to 4000 seats........
The Millenium Marquee....................................................................


Greetz JOYCE

[Dave]

Aug 22, 2008 17:16:16 GMT dutchjoyce said:

...Just thinking about this event, the big Marquee, up to 12.000 seats................why such a big one??
Greetz JOYCE

hi Joyce,

It was to be a 3,000 seater marquee and spread over 5 days, 14,000 tickets were available.

I have thought from the start that someone, somewhere, must have been taking a big risk with such an event - Truro is basically out in the middle of nowhere (Cornwall) and the only nearby big city is Plymouth (pop 250,000) which is 50 miles away. I think it would have been dependent on support from holidaymakers, whose numbers were probably lower than usual this year because of the poor summer in England and the economic problems.

It seems to have been a "first" which has taken 4 years to plan, so with no established reputation (as a festival) to fall back on, relying on headline singers Hayley and Alfie to fill it up was unwise to say the least. We know Hayley fills halls of up to 1,000 in or near all major towns in the UK, and can attract over twice that number at summer open air events - but I can't think of any in the last few years that have been so far away from major population centres.

Truro is of a similar size to Buxton in Derbyshire, where Hayley's concert was well supported and which at first may seem to be similarly "out in the middle of nowhere" but in reality, they have nothing in common as around 4 million people live within 30 miles of Buxton (never mind 50!).

I would have thought that achieving 4,000 ticket sales in such a situation is pretty good going and to me, the organisers seem to have taken a bit of a gamble here but sadly, it didn't pay off. I think in hindsight, a one or two day "weekend festival" would have made more sense and then, things may have been different.

Dave

[Richard]

Hello Dave and everybody.

It's very unfair to Hayley and Alfie to blame poor ticket sales for the cancellation. If the organisers had set realistic targets this event would have been a sell-out. To put things in perspective, 4,000 tickets sold for the five nights is roughly equivalent to the sales for Hayley's one-nighter at Cannizaro Park in London SW19, and that show was a huge success. The organisers there had several years experience, so they could predict the size of the audience.

Richard

[Dave]

Aug 23, 2008 14:31:11 GMT Richard said:

Hello Dave and everybody.

It's very unfair to Hayley and Alfie to blame poor ticket sales for the cancellation. If the organisers had set realistic targets this event would have been a sell-out.

Hi Richard,

That's what I was trying to say and you expressed it more succinctly than I did!

To plan for daily audiences of 3,000, not too far short of the International Eistedfodd Llangollen audience which Hayley performed to last year (with its 60+ years of history and much nearer to main population centres), was not very sensible in my opinion.

The organisers were over-ambitious to say the least.. But they must have been very persuasive to get Hayley and Alfie's Managements on board.

Dave

[tonyw]

Hi

This reminds me of the fiasco of the cancelled Celtic Woman UK concerts last year. At least we got a refund. I understand to get a credit card refund under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 the amount has to between £100.01 to £30,000. Therefore those who paid for the £100 tickets may not get a refund?

Tony

[Mark]

Aug 22, 2008 12:44:32 GMT dutchjoyce said:

Aug 22, 2008 11:53:26 GMT @roger said:

I have just received the following statement from Bedlam Management specifically for HWI members which I reproduce in full:



Roger

...............De Boer(Marquee company)
OMG.................that marquee was from the Netherlands.......
i just checked their website
JOyce

Hi everyone

I have just caught up on this thread (having been away) and am very disappointed for all concerned that this has been cancelled. By the way Joyce, the marquee company, De Boer, is actually based where I live in Banbury in the UK . I often see their massive trucks around the town, no doubt on there way to and from venues all over the UK. Perhaps I should pay them a visit and tell them to be more reasonable I guess in reality though, 4000 tickets just isnt enough. It makes you wonder, if it has been planned for 4 years, who was responsible for the marketing

Best wishes
Mark

[Jeff]

Maybe I'm naive but I'm surprised Hayley and Alfie were paid a fee for what is supposed to be a charity event, and half the fee was in advance ! Perhaps they will pay the money back, especially if disappointed concert-goers can't get a refund ?

[Tin]

Hi Jeff,

Aug 26, 2008 9:22:10 GMT Jeff said:

Maybe I'm naive...

I don't think you are.

Tin

[dkeeno]

Its standard practice, lets face it if stars performed for free at charity events theyd never make any money. Usually, in the cases ive worked on with Hayley, the standard fee is reduced as a good will gesture, but ehre will always be a fee. I also think its worth pointing out that this fee includes your backing musicains, so even if hayley performed for free thered still be a fee for them!
Its standard music industry practice to pay the artists half the fee when you sign the contract and the other half about 2 weeks before the event, as the artist might have turned down other gigs for you so the half in advance is sort fo a deposit.

[Richard]

From BBC News...

Delay on cancelled concert cash

A ticket agent in Cornwall says it has been trying to get information about possible ticket refunds from organisers of a series of cancelled concerts.

Killiow 2008, which had been due to take place on the Killiow estate near Truro in September, was called off last week because of poor ticket sales.

The Hall For Cornwall said it had been trying to contact the event's promoters to find out what would happen next.

Organisers Camellia MC Productions have been unavailable for comment.

Only 4,000 tickets out of 14,000 were sold for the five-day series of charity fundraising concerts due to feature singers Hayley Westenra and Alfie Boe.

It had been due to take place in a pink 3,000-seat marquee, but was cancelled after organisers said there were insufficient funds from sales to pay for the marquee and no alternative could be found.

Last week, Dr Charles Moon, chairman of Camellia MC Productions, said it was "too soon" to give any information about refunds.

He added the amount of money needed to refund all customers, believed to be about £160,000, was "not in the bank".

Tickets ranged from £20 to £60, but corporate packages were also on sale, which included meals and drinks. Packages were advertised at up to £1,000 for a group of 10 people.

The Hall For Cornwall, which acted as a ticket agent, said it had sent letters to the hundreds of customers who had bought tickets from its box office to keep them informed as to what was happening.

But director Tim Brinkman said: "We're all waiting for information from Camellia MC Productions to get some kind of guidance with regards to what the situation is.

"We're still struggling to get information just like anybody else."

Mr Brinkman said the hall's procedure normally was to refund money immediately.

However, he added that it was not contractually liable to refund Killiow tickets because Camellia was responsible for the provision of the services and had collected all the ticket money.

Consumer Direct South West said some ticket-buyers might be able to get refunds if they paid for more than £100-worth of goods with their credit card, as it could be covered by their cards' insurance scheme.

Camellia MC Productions was unavailable for comment on Tuesday.

Richard

[Richard]

From the Cornishman...

Killiow 2008 music festival company goes into liquidation

THE COMPANY which was due to be running a major Cornish music festival next week has gone into liquidation.

Earlier this week solicitors were drafted in to sort out the mess created by the cancellation of Killiow 2008 which was due to start a five-night run on Tuesday.

The classical musical extravaganza was to take place inside a giant pink marquee on the Killiow estate near Truro. Topping the bill was singer Hayley Westenra and opera singer Alfie Boe. It is believed that part of Ms Westenra's and Mr Boe's fee had been paid in advance. Former TV presenter Selina Scott was to host the event.

The festival was cancelled last week after only 4,000 tickets of nearly 15,000 available were sold.

Doubt remains over when and if ticket-buyers, who paid between £20 and £100 for seats, will be refunded. Alastair Taylor, musical and artistic director for Camellia MC Productions, organisers of the event, said solicitors had told them to say nothing.

Today the directors issued a statement saying: "It is with regret that the directors of Camellia MC Productions have approached professional advisors and have been advised to place the company into liquidation. This will take a number of weeks to achieve.

"In the meantime, the company will cease to trade. In due course the liquidator will be taking over the affairs of the company, and notify interested parties as to the company's financial position."

The Hall for Cornwall, which had been engaged to sell tickets, also issued a statement this week.

Hall for Cornwall director Tim Brinkman: "Hall for Cornwall does not hold the money from Camellia's ticket buyers and so is unable to return it, but we are very concerned that people who bought these tickets at our box office have been let down."

Because Killiow 2008 was an event raising money for a range of Cornish charities Hall for Cornwall undertook the task free of charge.

Customers who booked through the HfC box office have been advised to keep hold of their tickets while the Hall awaits clarification. Ticket sales for all other events are unaffected and are proceeding as normal.

The plot thickens.

Richard

[stuartj]

I believe there was a concert featuring Kathy Jenkins and some other big name (I forget who) cancelled not so long ago. It was said then that times where getting harder for concerts. I don't think it is the singers, it is organisers overreaching or having an ill-conceived idea. I believe this concert was to feature some massive amateur choirs. All very nice, but not, it seems, very saleable. Three days in the middle of nowhere listening in the main to amateurs... And I don't blame the tent people. Their costs would have been known in advance too.