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| steel driving hammer |
The Rolling Stones have pulled out of concert dates in Hong Kong for the second time this year, event organisers says.
The Stones, who cancelled appearances as the SARS epidemic took hold in March, have missed a deadline to commit to a musical extravaganza aimed at boosting Hong Kong's image after the devastating outbreak.
James Thompson, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham), which is organising the Hong Kong "Harbourfest" festival to be staged over four weekends between October 17 and November 9, admitted to being "frustrated" by the failure to sign the rock icons.
He said the band had given only verbal agreements to headline the event for two concerts on November 7 and 9 but had never signed a contract.
"It's awfully frustrating for this to happen... we did all we could but we had to draw a deadline," Thompson told local radio.
"So we said if you can't commit by last night we need to pull out because it was getting late and we couldn't guarantee we could sell the tickets... we can't jeopardise Hong Kong taxpayers' money," he added.
AmCham had put a contract together for the Stones which had met "all their financial and other requirements" but had failed to get the legendary rockers to put pen to paper, he added.
He said the final stumbling block had been the inability of the Stones' to line up concerts in the Chinese cities of Beijing and Shanghai to tie in with their Hong Kong dates.
The 130 million Hong Kong dollar (16.69 million US) Harbourfest is being organised by AmCham with backing from the Hong Kong government, which has committed to providing up to 80 million dollars of the funding.
Irish boy band Westlife, guitar superstar Carlos Santana, tenor Jose Carreras and regional stars have been confirmed for the event, part of the city's bid to relaunch its economy after the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak.
www.theage.com.au/article...65995.html |
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| steel driving hammer |
So did the Stones pull out or did China refuse them?
Hong Kong Withdraws Offer for Rolling Stones Gig
1 hour, 42 minutes ago
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Organizers have withdrawn an offer to the Rolling Stones to perform at a government-funded pop fest in Hong Kong after criticism that the veteran British rockers were being overpaid.
Reuters Photo
"After a period of discussion with the Rolling Stones, during which we made them a firm offer and had a contract ready to be signed, we realized that the Rolling Stones were unable to commit to our offer in a timely manner. We have, therefore, decided to withdraw our offer," the organizers said in a statement.
Although the fee offer was kept confidential, Hong Kong media have speculated that the joint organizers -- the American Chamber of Commerce (news - web sites) and a government-funded investment promotion unit -- might be overpaying the four-decade-old band.
In hopes of relaunching Hong Kong as a tourist destination after the economic disaster of this year's deadly SARS (news - web sites) epidemic, the government promised to underwrite the three-week musical event to the tune of HK$ 80 million. But the gesture aroused public concern that the money might not be well spent.
The Harbor Fest, set to kick off on October 17, features artists such as Prince and Irish boyband Westlife.
A Hong Kong television station also reported that the Stones had canceled what would have been their first performances in Beijing and Shanghai in November.
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| Monkey Woman |
So the Hong Kong festival organizers withdrew their offer because the Stones didn't commit on time? And the Stones didn't want to sign for HK unless they could go to mainland China too? That's sad for the fans in Hong Kong! Maybe it would have been smarter of the Stones to go along with the festival and try for China another time... |
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| steel driving hammer |
quote:
Monkey Woman wrote:
So the Hong Kong festival organizers withdrew their offer because the Stones didn't commit on time?
I don't know babe.
Wanna fuck? |
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| Monkey Woman |
Wanna be mauled by a tiger? 
But it's a gentleman who asks, as they say. 
[Edited by Monkey Woman] |
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| jb |
): |
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| Gazza |
Its been obvious for a while their hearts (and wallets) werent interested in returning to China. After four months in Europe they are probably in end of tour mode anyway and taking a month off just to fly halfway around the world for a week of shows hardly seems attractive.
so, we've only found out that the world tour is over AFTER its happened instead of thinking it was going to continue for a few more shows. Out with a whimper unfortunately!
One positive is that maybe those of us in the UK and Ireland WILL get to see Woody playing with Dylan next month after all. In his interview in "In Dublin" a few weeks ago he'd said that Dylan had invited him to play a few shows with him in November and he'd accepted - but this was obviously before the band had the Chinese dates lined up which would have been at the same time.
Bob's playing eight shows in England and Ireland between November 15 and 25, finishing with shows in THREE London theatres on successive nights between the 23rd and 25th. he's just added Shepherds Bush today on the 23rd as well as hammersmith apollo and brixton academy. I'll be at the Wembley arena show on the 15th,so hopefully Woody will show up at some point.
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| Some Guy |
I think that this sux!! |
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| Angiegirl |
Yeah, but Gazza, the interview said 'a few shows in Europe', and Bob's in Amsterdam on the 10th and 11th of Nov...  . London or Ireland make more sense though. Still hoping anyway! |
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| T&A |
unfortunately, when Woody plays with Bob, he plays even less than he does than with the Stones - and that's saying something! |
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| kahoosier |
well at least this time they cancelled BEFORE I was actually in Hong Kong~!I don't have 2 weeks of Chinese touring to go through, LOL, and I am pretty sure Northwest will let me rearrange my flight to Beijing to some other part of Asia, they are pretty good at that as far as ailrlines go. Still...
THIS IS HEARTBREAKING! |
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| TheSavageYoungXyzzy |
quote:
T&A wrote:
unfortunately, when Woody plays with Bob, he plays even less than he does than with the Stones - and that's saying something!
That's partially because Bob's backing band is one of the best in the world and partially because wouldn't you rather be drunk off your ass than trying conciously to figure out what you're supposed to do next to the biggest living legend in rock history who still churns out incredible albums forty years later?
I mean, what if he starts dancing? What then? Do you dance too? If you're drunk, these decisions are made for you. (Of course you do, by the way.)
-tSYX --- She wakes him up forty-eight hours later... |
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| glencar |
I'm suddenly hungry for General Tso's chicken. |
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| UGot2Rollme |
so, the only positive thing about the China no go is that it probably leaves the band with a sense of some unfinished business, that will hopefully cary over to another tour before too many years pass... |
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| Monkey Woman |
An other slant on that story:
Govt accused after Stones pull out of concert
Hong Kong politicians accused the government of false advertising today, a day after it was revealed that the Rolling Stones would not perform in an official post-Sars concert series as had been announced.
Organisers had earlier said the band had committed to play on two dates in November � part of a government-sponsored festival to help Hong Kong refurbish its battered image.
But it was revealed on Friday that the band never signed a deal and negotiations had collapsed.
�The Stones was your ace card. How could you go around touting the band without a contract in hand?� asked independent legislator Audrey Eu at a hearing reviewing the finances of the concert series.
The government has already drawn flak for agreeing to cover around �6 million in losses from the concert series � a burden politicians said was better shouldered by the private sector.
Concert promoters have downplayed the Stones� absence, saying other top acts will still be performing, including Santana, Jose Carreras and Prince.
But Mike Rowse, head of the sponsoring organisation, admitted the Stones� absence would significantly reduce revenue from the series.
http://breakingnews.iol.ie/entertainment/story.asp?j=82527870&p=8z5z8576
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| glencar |
The Chinese really screwed this one up. They'll never get to see the Stones now. |
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| caro |
sorry if this had been posted before...
Hong Kong Confirms Rolling Stones Will Play 2 Shows
Wed Oct 15, 5:53 PM ET Add Entertainment - Reuters to My Yahoo!
HONG KONG (Reuters) - The Hong Kong government has confirmed that the Rolling Stones will play two shows next month at a huge music festival in the territory, days after saying that it had withdrawn a contract with the British group.
A government statement said tickets would go on sale on Wednesday morning for the shows on Nov 7 and 9.
Government officials said last week that they had withdrawn an offer to the group after delays in signing the contract.
Following hours of urgent talks, it issued the latest statement just before midnight Tuesday, a day after the Stones insisted they had received a deposit and were planning to play.
"After strong mutual negotiations, we are delighted that the Rolling Stones are able to commit to play Harbour Fest in Hong Kong," said Jim Thompson, Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce (news - web sites), which is organizing the event with a government-funded investment promotion unit.
Confusion over the deal has sparked heavy criticism of the government, which had already been accused of spending too much taxpayers' money to bring in foreign entertainers when the economy was just recovering from recession.
The government had touted the Stones as the headline act of the festival, which was launched to help restore Hong Kong's international image after the SARS (news - web sites) epidemic earlier this year.
Mounting frustration with the Beijing-backed government's policies led to massive street protests in July, triggering the former British colony's worst political crisis in years.
Reuters/VNU
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