Note: Quotes and facts are courtesy of “South Asian Link”, a South Asian news source in Vancouver. You can visit them at thelinkpaper.ca!
While the Unforgettable Tour is currently touring the United States of America to an absolutely amazing response, fans in Vancouver are extremely disappointed at the fact that the tour has been cancelled in their city. As usual, BollySpice gives you the latest update and takes you behind the scenes of the tour.
What went wrong?
Promoters in Vancouver are very disappointed that Amitabh Bachchan and the rest of the entourage will not be performing in Vancouver anymore but they suggest it is due to the high ticket prices set by promoters in Canada. It should be noted that the promoters in Canada (Ethnic Guru) and the United States are different. This is the reason why Canadian shows (Toronto, Vancouver) saw extremely high prices while American Shows (LA, New York, San Francisco, etc.) were not priced as high. American shows are highly priced but still affordable while the two Canadian shows were downright over-priced which is why only 10,000 fans turned up to the Toronto show for a venue that had a 20-25,000 capacity while 20,000+ fans have attended the recent shows in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Take a look at the picture above…now that’s a SOLD OUT show (Los Angeles)! At the same time, the Toronto show was not like this and there were empty seats all over. Reason? Pricing! For this reason, it seems the Vancouver tickets did not sell enough and has forced promoters to cancel the show. Local Vancouver promoter Kamal Sharma said, “This is a real disappointment for the fans and it is certainly a set back for Vancouver as a Bollywood stars show destination. But there was apprehension about the prices of tickets but I believe it is still a doable show and for the sake of the fans I hope the show is saved.”
Many assert that Ethnic Guru, who are the Canadian promoters, were too amateur to be handling such a large show. This is the first time they are promoting a Bollywood show in Canada, and many have complained that they were simply not fit for the job. One local promoter who wanted to remain anonymous said, “Sometimes people who make a bit of money in Canada think now they are ready to rub shoulders with Bollywood but the bottom line is that if you don’t do the number crunching and make sure that your promotion and ticket prices are in line with what the Indo-Canadian community desires and can afford then you are going to be red faced. They (Ethnic Guru) should consider themselves lucky that they have lost only a few hundred thousand dollars and not their shirt which can easily happen with a show like this.”
At the same time, Amitabh Bachchan and the rest of the ‘unforgettable’ team are currently enjoying immense success in the U.S.A. and are witnessing packed houses like never before. Way to go!
But for fans in Vancouver, well, it isn’t such a happy moment.
