Fans furious over Celine
2008-02-05 18:00
Birgit Ottermann
Cape Town - A group of Celine Dion fans are up in arms because their tickets for the international diva's opening concert in South Africa, at Johannesburg's Coca Cola Dome, have been reallocated to the Montecasino concert on 29 February.
The Canadian singer will be opening her world tour with a special Valentine's Day concert on 14 February - a highlight on South Africa's social calendar for which die-hard fans booked tickets months ago.
"I booked my tickets well over a year ago, and now this," a very disappointed Beverley Anderson from Johannesburg, told News24.
"I have now been moved to Montecasino and will be sitting (rain, hail or blue sky) in the car park. I think it is disgusting. I would have thought that the promoters and sponsors would have been more helpful, even if they are not to blame," she said.
According to Liesl Laubscher of Cross Communication, some of the concert tickets had to be reallocated at the request of Celine Dion's production crew.
Dion's production crew
"Ms Dion's production crew has insisted that certain changes be made in the Coca Cola Dome for the singer's concert to run smoothly, and unfortunately that also included some changes to the seating arrangements."
"Personally, I have to say, if it had been me who bought a ticket for the Valentine's Day concert, I would have been the hell in!
"However, the promoters and sponsors did not really have much of a choice. They simply had to attend to the crew's demands, seeing that there are still so many other Dion concerts in February," Laubscher said.
"I do think, though, that they are very accommodating by offering tickets in a higher price range and offering to reimburse other expenses," she added.
Site line and seating plan restrictions
Laubscher told News24 about a Celine Dion fan of Cape Town who had even been reimbursed for plane tickets and accommodation that had already been booked for the Johannesburg concert.
The unlucky Dion fans were informed of the reallocation of tickets by an e-mail from Ticket Connection.
The e-mail explained the ticket reallocation as follows:
"Celine Dion's international production team, on final inspection of the seating arrangements at the Coca Cola dome have advised the promoter that due to the nature of the new Celine Dion Taking Chances World Tour production, there are certain site line and seating plan restrictions which have to be adhered to in line with international standards for the benefit and safety of the public and the production."
Duncan Heafield of Kusasa Entertainment, South Africa's event promoter for Celine Dion's concert, confirmed this with News24.
"Due to certain restrictions in relation to the magnitude and sight requirements involved in the upcoming Celine Dion show, we were forced to displace two bleachers (stands) at the venue," Heafield to News24.
"We have committed ourselves to accommodating these patrons in any of the other shows at a higher ticket price or have offered to refund them," he said.
'Bring an umbrella'
But, to Beverley Anderson, who had been looking forward to the opening concert for so long, this is no consolation.
"I and the other unlucky fans out there, have paid a lot of money for a ticket (I paid almost R1 000) and expected to see Celine at the Dome, a big indoors venue with good sound quality.
"Now I'm forced to go to an outdoors venue where the chances are good that it might rain. When I complained about this, I was just told 'Bring an umbrella!' I'm really disappointed and feel I deserve better value for my money."
Good news for other Celine Dion fans is that none of the superstar's other concerts in South Africa will be affected by this and, that the singer has agreed to stage another concert on 1 March at Montecasino in Johannesburg due to the huge demand for tickets.
- News24