Morning:
13°c
An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
Ministry of Defence spent £149 million on an "urgent" upgrade to 900 tanks that are now only being used in training exercises, it was revealed
More...
First four Michael Jackson tour dates put back
By Peter Dominiczak Last updated at 10:31am on 21.05.09
Furious Michael Jackson fans spoke of their disappointment today after the first four shows of his sell-out London residency were delayed.
The first concert at the O2 Arena was pushed back five days to 13 July, but around 60,000 fans who fought to get tickets for the following three shows will now have to wait until March 2010 to see their idol.
Fans who fear they may now never see the pop superstar are angry with promoters AEG Live for delaying three of the opening gigs by eight months rather than moving all 50 of the concerts back.
AEG Live, which owns the O2, denied that the rescheduled dates were anything to do with reports that Jackson is suffering from skin cancer.
But there were claims that the singer was today set to have surgery to remove potentially life-threatening skin growths.
One disappointed fan, 32-year-old Jody Rogers, from Guilford, had managed to get tickets for the second concert. She bought tickets for her partner Alan Heavy, 25, best friend Monica Mayers, 30, and Ms Mayers' mother.
She said: “The people who worked the hardest to get these tickets in the first place are the ones who are being punished. It is such a kick in the teeth.
“I spent £338 buying four tickets for a once-in-a-lifetime concert to celebrate my birthday. They should have moved every concert back and treated us all fairly. It's absolutely disgraceful.
“I hear Michael Jackson isn't doing that well. I may never get to see him and I'm devastated. I've been waiting my entire life to see him.”
Ticketmaster sent an email apologising to ticket holders last night. It said: “Please allow us to apologise. It was not an easy decision to change the schedule but in the end we wanted to ensure that all of Michael's fans attending the concerts get the same quality in staging and level of entertainment.”
Jackson is determined to make the £150 million This Is It residency work and is holed up in LA working on his dance moves.
Phenomenal demand — at once stage, the website was attracting 16,000 visits a second — meant the run was expanded from 10 dates to 50.
The show's director Kenny Ortega said a clash with Madonna, who is also performing at the 02 at the beginning of July, had left Jackson with no time to rehearse at the arena.
Mr Ortega said: “We apologise to all disappointed fans and remain extremely dedicated and focused on creating an exceptional live music experience.”
AEG Live said anyone who chooses not to attend the rescheduled shows will get a full refund.
Related articles
Reader views (19)
I hope you are ALL ASHAMED of your comments on this unfortunate problem with the tickets and setbacks to Michael's concerts, seeing that he is now PASSED AWAY (on June 25) before the concerts could ever begin! It isn't Michael's fault. He wanted to perform for everyone! Sounds like you all were prophesying even his death, by your many negative comments, such as, some believiing the concerts would never happen! WELL THE CONCERTS CANNOT HAPPEN NOW. HE IS SOOOOOOO UNFORTUNATELY DEAD! Did you really want to see him in concert, or not? Were you his real fans, or NOT! ( If you can say the things that most of you did, then.....I think not.)
- Beverly, USA
well now none of us will ever see him...
- Janette, Torrance CA
What a joke!!!!
We forked out $3500 in airfare alone to travel in July as it is peak season.
If he needs to change the date why can't it be to one of the gaps in July. I think it is so wrong that he has done this. I plan on getting a refund but that doesn't help with the airfare does it?
If you think he's going to be playing in March you are fooling yourself!!!
- Vamessa Johnson, Redondo Beach, California, USA
i was ment to be seeing him on July 14th the last of the 4 dates which got put back and yeah i am disappointed that this has happened but its not the end of the world he hasnt cancelled them all together which would make me really angry after forking out all that money.
I just hope march comes around quickly and he hasnt suffered any dramatic helf problems until then so he can still perfrom to the best of his ability!
- Steve, London
It's only 3 dates they have to move... so WHY move them right to the back... WHEN there are plenty of gaps in the scheduled to accommodate them. There are gaps this year of 5 days, 11 days and 2 weeks among others… It’s not on!
- Paul, London
Hi,
I am going on 22nd July althhough that seems to be the fourth date. I have had no email or anything from ticketmaster. Does anyone know if the 22nd has been affected and if so, do we know the date it has been changed to?
Thanks
Charl
- Charlotte, Kent
To Julie in London, that is seriously ill-educated remark.
Suprising how childish and idiotic that comment was.
- Stacey, Liverpool, UK
I'll wager the concerts don't happen. I've heard he has only been to a couple of rehearsals.
The whole thing is a scam. Rake in millions of pounds in advance booking fees, use the money, and scram.
Personally someone should take out the vile little man.
- Kerry, Purley
I have been damn sure that these shows were never gonna happen. It is my opinion they will be postponed and postponed time and again until you give up and demand a refund after which time they will have earned plenty of interest on all that ticket money.
I think that unless the Insurance company underwriting this has a specified minimum number of performances he has to do before they will payout on canceling the run i would not expect it ever to happen. Again in my opinion i am sure the whole run will never ever happen and MJ has screwed over his most loyal fans by "postponing" the first few dates. Even if some dates go ahead i won't believe it till i see it that these people are going to get to see him.
unless the insurance company underwriting this have got a minimum performance clause then these shows
- Andrew, London
I can understand the reactions of the fans!
Its nothing unusual to postpone some gigs, but the other thing is the - consequences of such decision for the fans!
The organizers should have postpone the opening gig before the announcement of the comeback was released! and not now!
Definitely its not Michaels fault!
- Brandon, Slovakia
Am I one of a few not a little surprised by this over rated, under achieving individuals lack of creditiblity when it comes to "his fans". Any old excuse will do and this is only the first. Cannot wait to hear why the next blockof concerts will be postponed, because they will. Personally, the "fans" get little if no sympathy from me, the writing was on the wall at the outset.
- Steve, London
Why is this such a surprise to anyone?
I can't see any of these concerts going ahead ever!
How can he have skin cancer when he's never been in the sun!?
- Julie, London
Get a life the lot of you, go and do something worthwhile instead.
- Sonny Essex, Colchester, Essex
"I'm DEVASTATED. I've SPENT MY ENTIRE LIFE WAITING TO SEE HIM."
He's just a singer isn't he? What are you going to do when something genuinely bad happens?
- Mary, London
i cant believe how unfairly this is being done, the whole point of fighting to get my july 10th tickets was to go in july!!! if there is not enough time between concerts we shouldn't have been sold tickets! surely there is time for this to be re thought and just put all the concerts back a few days instead of making those of us who worked hardest suffer the most, and what about the £170 i've forked out on a hotel near the o2 which is non-refundable?! i'm shocked by how badly this has been done, whatever the real reason is for postponing the gigs we should have all been dealt with fairly!
- Dan, edmonton
My heart goes out to all those eBay touts with their £1000 "front row - opening night" tickets. This is a shambles. SO many people will feel let down.
- Ben Farrell, London
Nothing to do with the fact that the Jubilee line is being closed for maintenance thus making actually gettting to the o2 impossible as reported in this very paper yesterday. TFL has a good spin department to pass the blame for this to Jacko.
- Bruce, London
So it's Madonna's fault (even though her dates were booked in about 6 months prior to MJ!!) I know who I'd prefer to see
- Daniel, East London, London
Buying a ticket for a Michael Jackson concert makes as much sense as putting a large bet on a Labour Party revival in the forthcoming European elections !!!!
- Nick Holland, glasgow
