By Alfred Branch, Jr.
The attorney representing a group of unhappy Aerosmith fans in a class action lawsuit against the band said the complaint was launched because thousands of fans were out hundreds of dollars beyond the cost of tickets.
In an interview with TicketNews, Brandee Faria explained that the band’s planned Sept. 26 concert on Maui presented logistical challenges for fans that most normal shows do not.
“Aerosmith announced that it was going to come to Hawaii and perform a concert on Maui, where about only 11 percent of the state’s population live. Unlike the mainland, where most concerts can be attended for the price of the ticket and some gas, most of the 10,000 Hawaii fans had to pay for airfare, hotel and car rental,” Faria said. The show was scheduled for a Wednesday when many people would have to take time off from work in order to attend.
The band then cancelled, rather than reschedule the Maui concert, a few days before the scheduled show in favor of a larger, more profitable concert in Chicago, according to Faria, but when the band first announced the cancellation, “they provided no reason at all” for the move. Later, they said the reason for canceling was logistics in getting their equipment to Hawaii, but Aerosmith then allegedly came to the islands with their equipment, spent a few days vacationing on Maui, and then performed a private gig for Toyota on Oahu only days after their cancelled Maui concert, Faria continued.
“Aerosmith made a choice and chose other, more lucrative performances over their Hawaii fans,” she said. “Consequently, they should be required to reimburse their Hawaii fans for the damages which they caused.
“We also are seeking punitive damages, which, given the success of Aerosmith, could be substantial if we were to be successful on this claim,” Faria added.
Representatives for the band did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
Faria said her firm has never sued an artist for damages resulting from a cancelled performance, but laid out several reasons why she believes the case has merit. First, the tickets for the Maui show do not have a disclaimer, “in fact they say on the front ‘No Refunds/ Exchanges,’ and the show will be performed “Rain or Shine” and on the back they say ‘Positively No Refunds.’ None of the typical ‘your losses limited to the face value of the ticket/we reserve right to cancel/reschedule.’”
Second, the band performed in Hawaii at the private show soon after the canceled Maui show would have been held. Third, Aerosmith allegedly decided “to cancel the Maui show because they had rescheduled their Chicago show (seating 19,000) to the Monday before the Wednesday Maui concert,” but they did not reschedule or cancel the Chicago show instead, nor did they reschedule the Maui show. The band’s equipment “was here, they simply decided it was not convenient for them to do so and cancelled.”
Fourth, the band was allegedly lax in notifying the Maui fans, which prohibited many of them from canceling their travel plans.
“Ten thousand people are out anywhere from a couple bucks to over a thousand: if you use a conservative average of $100-$300 each and you multiple that times 10,000 fans, what you get is $1 million to $3 million. Maybe chump change for Aerosmith but real money to Hawaii people,” Faria said.
Last Updated on March 17, 2009 by Alfred Branch Jr.
