Re: Michael Forever Tribute/ MJJC Official Statement / Discussion / Estate statement / Fan letter @p
This whole fiasco is embarassing.
I have to say that I am amazed that so few tickets appear to be sold. Part of that will no doubt be because Cardiff is not the easiest place for fans to visit, and because many fans on the MJ boards are against this concert, but we have to remember that we (hopefully) are the minority of the fan base and many people who don't visit these boards will be unaware of the reasons why we are buycotting this and should be unaffected by our boycott.
I don't flatter myself with the idea that the masses are holding off buying these tickets because a few thousand MJ fans on the boards are boycotting it. That is not the reason, so what is?
Why don't the fans of the featured artists buy the tickets? I thought at the very least the stadium could be filled with their own fans.
Is it because they don't want to pay the high prices to see their artist perform a couple of songs? Maybe the main UK artists perform often enough that the fans don't feel the need to go out for this...
Is it because their fans don't want to pay tribute to MJ? The prices are high, but not even the cheapest tickets have sold out.
Is it because they don't want to travel to Cardiff? It's not the ideal location for a single concert but others do sell out there, so why not this one?
Is it because the organisers haven't been advertising the event? I would have thought the press coverage has been sufficient to make people aware that it's happening.
Is it just the bad reputation has put everybody off this event?
The organisation of this concert is embarassing enough, and many of us didn't want the concert to go ahead, but I would say on balance that if the family didn't cancel or postpone this, I actually would have preferred it to be a super fast sellout than only sell a fraction of the tickets. The way this is going it will be cancelled due to extremely poor ticket sales. Remember the Diana tribute sold out in minutes, and the Queen one in only a couple of hours. So far these tickets have been on sale for AGES and still only a fraction sold...
In addition to the factors you mentioned of location, ticket prices, and lack of advertising, could another factor also be the riots that were happening in London around the time the concert registration began? I'm not familiar with logistics and the surrounding Cardiff area, but do a lot of the concert goers generally come from London? If so, perhaps the mayhem that was going on in the city just affected general attitude and more pressing concerns were on concert goers minds? This is just a thought. The two things are probably completely unrelated.
Location is a BIG factor. One poster pointed out that the Millenium does not have a lot of bookings listed on their site for anything. Maybe this venue always has trouble attracting attendees, and even at the cheapest ticket prices, maybe it's just not worth the trip to go and see the artists who were first announced, especially if you have to add in travel expense when an economic crunch still exists for many of us, and as you said, you can see them elsewhere more easily.
I think a main reason also is that Global misrepresented itself to the point that people just generally lost interest. They lied about this concert from the beginning. They boasted a galaxy of stars, making it seem as though they had firm commitments from international A-listers and they would announce this galaxy before registration. They had a set date for registration, but then said they had to change it because they had to change the headliner. Well, if they actually had a galaxy of A-listers, there is no one headliner. They all are headliners. Then when they announced the artists, none of them were A-listers. Cee lo Green is just hitting it big internationally. Christina was subsequently added. Smokey Robinson is indeed a legend, but wouldn't be a big draw for most at this time of his career.
The Vienna promoters said they cancelled the tribute they attempted in 2009 with Jermaine because of location and bad press. They were able to sell 35000 tickets, but said tickets "stagnated" after that because of people's disappointment in the artists announced and then those artists said they never confirmed they'd participate, which resulted in more bad press.
Global has lost all credibility. They under estimated public sensibilities and tried to perpetuate a scam with big talk and Katherine Jackson. While true, fans who are boycotting may represent a minority, but Global was counting on word of mouth to sell this concert. That same word of mouth is what's killed it.
