UPDATE 23/03/17: The promoter in charge of Beenie Man’s current Australian tour has accused Max Watt’s of having “ulterior motives” for cancelling the musician’s Sydney show.
ORIGINAL STORY: In a highly unusual move, a Sydney venue has cancelled an upcoming show by Grammy award-winning Jamaican reggae star Beenie Man due to “a large number of alleged fraudulent ticket sales”.
The King Of The Dancehall was scheduled to play at Max Watts tomorrow night, Thursday 23rd March, but the Moore Park livehouse has now canned the gig, with venue reps issuing a statement indirectly calling out the tour promoter, Kingsbridge Live, for alleged dodgy dealings.
“The team at Max Watts pride themselves on working with promoters that act with integrity and respect, but unfortunately our trust was misplaced on this specific occasion,” the venue posted in a statement on Facebook.
“Beenie Man has an incredible following in Sydney and a strong legion of fans, so we have done our best to move forward with this show despite the allegations, but unfortunately the severity of the claims has left the venue in a position that we are no longer comfortable in.”
Music Feeds has contacted Kingsbridge Live for comment.
The Sydney cancellation comes after the promoter announced a “flash sale” of $49 Beenie Man tickets for 48 hours on its official Facebook page:
The post was followed-up by a second, prompting Brisbane and Melbourne fans unable to access the flash sale through the authorised retailer, Ticketmaster, to email or SMS the promoter directly to score the cheaper tix:
The last leg of Beenie Man’s Australian tour is due to go down at Melbourne’s Trak Lounge on Sunday, 25th March.
Music Feeds has contacted the venue for comment and confirmation on whether that show will indeed go ahead.
At the time of writing it does seem to be all system’s go, with the venue spruiking the show on Facebook just over an hour ago.
We’ll keep you posted with any more news as it develops. In the meantime, you can read Max Watts Sydney’s full statement below.
