HOP FARM SHOWS TO WEMBLEY ARENA

Everything about the European leg of the World Tour!
osmachar
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Re: URGENT: HOP FARM SHOWS TO WEMBLEY ARENA

Post by osmachar »

Open air concerts are totally overrated.

I went to 7 open air concerts (6 in the UK, 1 in Germany, but not all Leonard Cohen) - none of them were perfect weatherwise.

On 4 of them we got rained on and it wasn't particularly warm either although in the summer, 1 was freezing cold in July, and 1 it was so hot and we had to stand about in the sun for hours that my partner nearly passed out.

I much prefer having a nice seat somewhere indoors and try to avoid open-airs.
Mordy
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Re: URGENT: HOP FARM SHOWS TO WEMBLEY ARENA

Post by Mordy »

I think UK fans are owed a huge favour in recompense for the Hop Farm debacle - whoever was responsible. It hasn't affected me personally, as I had opted to go to the Paris gig, but two lots of friends were going, and for a number of reasons, Wembley is a no-go for them. "We're gutted" to quote one of them.

If, as has been mentioned, Leonard might be doing some concerts in the UK next year, what about a special one at a decent London INDOOR venue - Albert Hall, Barbican, Festival Hall, with good notice of the date, (so people don't feel they've got to incur the extra expense of travelling abroad because no concerts in the UK have been announced) with priority booking for people who were affected by this year's change of venue? This would be a fantastic good-will gesture from Leonard, his management and promoters, and might go some way towards healing some of the ill-feeling and disappointment that people are feeling at the moment.

M
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Mabeanie1
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Re: URGENT: HOP FARM SHOWS TO WEMBLEY ARENA

Post by Mabeanie1 »

John Etherington wrote:Wendy - I've checked Google, and all I can establish from it is ....... that Vince Power seemed to have some financial problems.
John - you have your answer. More details here in an article I copied at the time from the Kent News: viewtopic.php?f=58&t=32594&p=312159#p312159 You're not going to get the answer on a plate - you have to read between the lines. That's how these things work.

Wendy
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comehealing
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Re: URGENT: HOP FARM SHOWS TO WEMBLEY ARENA

Post by comehealing »

I think that Mordy's suggestion is brilliant.

There are a number of people who will have felt "swindled" by proceedings
so having some kind of "priority booking" for those affected to attend possible
future concerts in the UK would be an amazing gesture of goodwill and peace.

I can taste the magic now, it's just round the corner.
Alexis
"Who, being loved, is poor?"
(Oscar Wilde)
"That love is all there is" (Emily Dickinson)
"A miracle, just take a look around: The inescapable earth" (Wislawa Szymborska)
John Etherington
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Re: URGENT: HOP FARM SHOWS TO WEMBLEY ARENA

Post by John Etherington »

Wendy - Leonard can't need the money anymore...maybe Hop Farm could have been a benefit gig for Vince Powers? Then, again maybe he knew I wouldn't have time to make it to Hop Farm, and kindly relocated to Wembley just to accomodate me! :D
Murphy575
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Re: URGENT: HOP FARM SHOWS TO WEMBLEY ARENA

Post by Murphy575 »

Mordy wrote:I think UK fans are owed a huge favour in recompense for the Hop Farm debacle - whoever was responsible. It hasn't affected me personally, as I had opted to go to the Paris gig, but two lots of friends were going, and for a number of reasons, Wembley is a no-go for them. "We're gutted" to quote one of them.

If, as has been mentioned, Leonard might be doing some concerts in the UK next year, what about a special one at a decent London INDOOR venue - Albert Hall, Barbican, Festival Hall, with good notice of the date, (so people don't feel they've got to incur the extra expense of travelling abroad because no concerts in the UK have been announced) with priority booking for people who were affected by this year's change of venue? This would be a fantastic good-will gesture from Leonard, his management and promoters, and might go some way towards healing some of the ill-feeling and disappointment that people are feeling at the moment.

M
I could not agree more. The UK fans have got the hard shoulder from LC this time round. First no concert at all (which is strange on a European tour but there you go) so this meant that yourself, myself and many others (most of those I met in Gent where from the UK) had to fork out more money from the already questionably priced ticket to cover the travel expenses to another country. Granted, me and my wife made a holiday out of it but still, that's £500 extra we would not have spent otherwise.

And then, just as a kick in the balls (again) couple of weeks later - suddenly UK concert. But wait, there's more! Hop farm happened, then the diabolical situation with ticketing and refunds and everything just went pair shaped. Ok so the situation with Hop Farm may not have been LC & Co fault but the sudden announcement of the venue was strange...

As a personal "kick in the balls" Wembley is a 20 min drive from me lol




******

As for the indoor VS outdoor. The organisers of this tour must be thick in the head (which I think we've decided is quite clear). When I was in Gent it started to drizzle a little at about 7:55 (concert starts at 8). Then at 8, some lady walks onto the stage and said "due to the weather, the concert is delayed half n hour" (btw, at about 8:00 it had stopped drizzling).


Hang on one cotton picking minute, until the hop farm incident this tour is ALL outdoors. My 1 month old neighbours child can tell you it WILL rain at some point - so WTF, it's a flipping outdoor concert, of course it's going to flipping rain but you should have equipment which can handle it - simple as that!



****

Rant over :)
songwriter
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Re: URGENT: HOP FARM SHOWS TO WEMBLEY ARENA

Post by songwriter »

Mordy wrote:I think UK fans are owed a huge favour in recompense for the Hop Farm debacle - whoever was responsible. It hasn't affected me personally, as I had opted to go to the Paris gig, but two lots of friends were going, and for a number of reasons, Wembley is a no-go for them. "We're gutted" to quote one of them.

If, as has been mentioned, Leonard might be doing some concerts in the UK next year, what about a special one at a decent London INDOOR venue - Albert Hall, Barbican, Festival Hall, with good notice of the date, (so people don't feel they've got to incur the extra expense of travelling abroad because no concerts in the UK have been announced) with priority booking for people who were affected by this year's change of venue? This would be a fantastic good-will gesture from Leonard, his management and promoters, and might go some way towards healing some of the ill-feeling and disappointment that people are feeling at the moment.

M

I think sharing almost 50 years worth of wonderful poetry is quite enough "recompense".
disapointed
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Re: URGENT: HOP FARM SHOWS TO WEMBLEY ARENA

Post by disapointed »

I've been chasing Lastminute.com for a refund (which I asked for a week ago) and they've just came back saying no. they said the promotors sent an email on 24 Auguust - which I never got saying that if I wanted a refund I would have to apply or I would get tickets allocated for Wembley - this is not what the website says. Did anyone get an email saying this?
I've told LM I will sue them if they don't refund. They said the tickets were sent direct by the promoter -which is a lie as the return address on the envelope is Last minute.com. When I originally called them last Saturday they didn't know anyting about the cancellation of the Hop Farm. The tickets they sent were the worst at that price, even though at the time the eventim website was showing way better seats at the same price still available.
It's all a bit of a scam between the promotors and, let's face it, LC's management.
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Mabeanie1
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Re: URGENT: HOP FARM SHOWS TO WEMBLEY ARENA

Post by Mabeanie1 »

A few points in response to some of the above:

- The UK has not been overlooked. We will have more dates next year, as has been stated here time and time again. Meanwhile, if you're feeling hard done by, bear in mind that Germany only had 2 shows this year.

- There was a good reason for the switch from Hop Farm to Wembley - see above. There is no way any promoter would switch venues at 2 weeks' notice unless they absolutely had to.

- We were incredibly lucky that Wembley was available at short notice for 8-9 Sept. Otherwise we could have faced all the downside of a Hop Farm cancellation (lost travel arrangements, getting refunds etc) with none of the upside (2 indoor concerts to look forward to).

- We have already had "preferential" ticket arrangements for Hop Farm ticket holders. OK, so they were far from perfect but that's what you get when things have to be thrown together at very short notice and the intention and gesture was there. It's to Leonard's, his manager and promoter's credit that they went to the trouble of trying to give us preferential arrangements for Wembley whilst they were trying to put the new arrangements in place.

- Yes, all the shows up to Paris were open air. Not my favourite sort of concert venue but Leonard seems to enjoy them. Yes, it will rain - and in fact, I believe it has rained at quite a few of the shows to date. The cancellation of Hop Farm had nothing to do with the weather. The rain delay for the 3rd Ghent show was idiotic but it wasn't just because of the threat of rain. For some reason, the local promoters seemed to have found the one forecast which threatened a thunderstorm at 8.00 pm. Thunder and lightning are serious issues for safety reasons.

Wendy
Lorca1999
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Re: URGENT: HOP FARM SHOWS TO WEMBLEY ARENA

Post by Lorca1999 »

Getting very excited about tomorrow :D

Just a head up - a highlight for me in Ghent was Alexandra Leaving, sung entirely by Sharon.
It was absolutely mesmerising, so if it starts, don't get up and go for a wee, or take photos, just enjoy :D :D

x
James T
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Re: URGENT: HOP FARM SHOWS TO WEMBLEY ARENA

Post by James T »

Wembley on Saturday is now sold out apparently...
osmachar
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Re: URGENT: HOP FARM SHOWS TO WEMBLEY ARENA

Post by osmachar »

Mabeanie1 wrote:...- The UK has not been overlooked. We will have more dates next year, as has been stated here time and time again. ....
How do you know?
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Mabeanie1
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Re: URGENT: HOP FARM SHOWS TO WEMBLEY ARENA

Post by Mabeanie1 »

osmachar wrote:
Mabeanie1 wrote:...- The UK has not been overlooked. We will have more dates next year, as has been stated here time and time again. ....
How do you know?
It's come up several times but for e.g. check out RobH's post here (RobH = Rob Hallett, AEG): viewtopic.php?f=58&t=31722&p=301322#p301322

Also, I was speaking to someone who should know in Berlin on Wednesday. ;-) ;-)

Wendy
Sheeva
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Re: URGENT: HOP FARM SHOWS TO WEMBLEY ARENA

Post by Sheeva »

I've literally come back from holidays to enjoy my hubbies birthday gift to find venue changed. No email advice from Viagogo and only found out by accident when looking on Hop Farm site for a map for journey. Lost money on accommodation also!!! grrhh!!!
Preferential booking for a tour next year would go some way to making up.
Do you think them that matter will read this?
Sheeva
disapointed
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Re: URGENT: HOP FARM SHOWS TO WEMBLEY ARENA

Post by disapointed »

Lastminute still refusing to refund my Hop Farm tickets even though the promoters AEGLive told me they instructed ticket sellers that the default position should be to refund if the Hop Frarm ticket holder did not request tickets for Wembley. I've got 6 tickets for Saturday in block S13 I can't use. Saturday now showing sold out. The promoters have offered to help me get a refund from LM. Lesson is - don't deal with LM
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