Thursday 26 October 2006

Mariah Carey's Hong Kong concert axed amid row

Hong Kong fans of American pop diva Mariah Carey have been left disappointed after a row between her management and promoters ended with a planned weekend concert being cancelled. Both Carey's management company and the show's local promoter claim to have pulled the plug, with each blaming the other for mishandling the event.

"Due to unfulfilled contractual obligations by concert organisers, Mariah Carey has been obliged to cancel her forthcoming concert in Hong Kong on Sunday," the singer's record label Universal said in a statement. Her management, Handprint Entertainment, were not so diplomatic, however. "Due to a financial default by the promoter, it is with great sadness that Mariah will not be able to perform for her fans in Hong Kong," said Handprint's Benny Medina.

Medina said promoters One Events still had outstanding production and artists' fees to pay. "We gave them time to pay but he kept missing the new deadlines," he told AFP from his office in Los Angeles. One Events, however, blamed poor ticket sales - claiming that just 4,000 of at least 10,000 had been sold - and said Handprint were also responsible.

"As promoters of the Mariah Carey Hong Kong concert we have decided to cancel the event effective immediately due to both the poor response of public ticket sales and also due to specific last-minute demands which we find wholly unreasonable and not with the best interests of Hong Kong, us and also the fans," the company said in a statement, adding that refund arrangements would be announced later.

Carey had been booked to play on a harbourside site that hosts occasional outdoor events. Production crews had already begun building the stage when the announcement came. Carey's cancellation follows the axeing of a show by British pop singer Robbie Williams on November 10 due to poor health.

Hong Kong's reputation as a concert venue was severely undermined in 2003, when it was hoped a government-run string of concerts featuring big stars would put the city on the world tourism map after Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) laid waste to the economy.

However, poor ticket sales, poor organisation and allegations of corruption mired it in controversy with the loss of about 100 million Hong Kong dollars (12.8 million US dollars) of taxpayers' money.

(Yahoo! News)



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