While Paul McCartney will no longer be performing in Italy this year amid the coronavirus pandemic, he’s using his voice to speak out and ensure that ticketholders will receive refunds.

Originally, McCartney was scheduled to perform in Naples and Lucca this week, however, last month, the gigs were called-off due to safety concerns. Although the gigs were cancelled, promoter Assomusica only offered ticketholders vouchers, rather than refunds. This sparked outrage online, as fans called on the promoter – as well as McCartney – to do something.

Ticket Flipping's toolbox of ticket broker tools

According to Variety, McCartney released a statement in Italian on his Facebook page, noting that it is “outrageous that those who have paid for their tickets are not getting their money back.”

“We strongly disagree with what the Italian government are doing,” McCartney said in the post, which was not visible in the U.S. “In every other country we were going to visit this summer the fans have been offered full refunds. The organiser of our shows and the Italian law makers must do the right thing here. We are extremely disappointed the shows could not take place and this is a real insult to the fans.”

Promoter D’allesando e Galli released a statement of their own, which defended the voucher system. They noted that while they understand McCartney’s displeasure with the system, McCartney’s staff was reportedly aware of the system before the cancellation.

“For our part, to minimize the inconvenience of the spectators, who we will never fail to respect, we have already committed ourselves by 2021 to recovering almost all the shows scheduled for 2020 and we are working to add others, to offer the wider choice for those who will have to spend the voucher following a cancelled concert,” the promoter said.

Ticket Club ad - members of this ticket resale platform can purchase tickets with no service fees. Click this ad to go to Ticket Club and claim a free one-year membership using the code TICKETNEWS