Agency report

London, Jun 14: The much-hyped Rockstars shows, featuring Salman Khan, John Abraham, Kareena Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Esha Deol, Zayed Khan and Mallika Sherawat, came to a screeching halt on Sunday night when the last show at Wembley, London was cancelled.

Right from the very beginning the Rockstars tour (in USA, Canada and UK) has been riddled with troubles. Earlier too, shows in Calgary and Orlando were cancelled.

Reveals our source from London, “In the Birmingham show, the arena capacity was  18,000. But only 2,000 people were present. While for the London show only 300 tickets had been sold so the organisers decided to cancel it.”

Show us the money

Another source from the troupe has a different version, “The London show got cancelled at the last moment because of non-payment to artistes. Artistes are sometimes paid in bulk for four to five shows at a time or individually paid before every show. If they are not paid before the show as per the agreement they have the right to refuse to perform.”

The Rockstars shows have been organised by the Morani brothers, Sohail Khan and Bunty Walia. Ali, Mohammed Morani and Sohail Khan remained unavailable for comments despite numerous attempts to contact them but Bunty Walia confirmed the news.

“It’s true that the Wembley show in London on June 11 got cancelled,” but he refused to shed light on the cause of cancellation.

Bunty bewildered

When questioned about the non-payment of artistes Walia played it safe with, “I have no clue as to why the show got cancelled. I am trying to find out. This is something you will have to talk to Ali or Karim Morani or the international promoter Yasmin Kasim.

Even I am trying their numbers but I can’t get through. It was very sudden. When I left on Sunday evening to come back to Mumbai the show (scheduled for 7.30 pm) was still happening. However, when I reached Mumbai at 9 am I was told that the show was cancelled.”

Blame Beckham

What could have been the reason for the poor show in UK? “The Birmingham show wasn’t that bad. The show organiser can take half or a full stadium. In this case, we chose to take a half-stadium and the attendance was pretty good actually.

The Word Cup soccer fever could have been one of the reasons why ticket sales weren’t so high. Football is popular right now, and in England it is on everybody’s mind.”
 
 The message from the organizers

June 11, 2006:
 
Wembley Arena very much regrets the cancellation of the show on June 11.  This was for reasons beyond our control. Ticket holders should return their tickets to the original point of purchase for a refund. If you bought your ticket by credit card through the Wembley Box Office — in person, by phone or by internet — your card will be refunded automatically. If you bought in cash in person at the Box Office, please bring your tickets back to the Box Office for your refund. The Box Office is open between 10.30 am and 4.30 pm Monday to Saturday. You should collect your refund by Friday, June 16 at the latest.