No refunds over snow gig

Frankie Boyle has left thousands of fans furious – because he DIDN’T cancel a show.

Bad weather meant only about half the 9,000 ticket-holders could make it to his gig at Glasgow’s SECC last night – leaving those who couldn’t make it to angrily demand refunds.

But as the gig went ahead to the 4,500 people who did make it, promoters have refused to give people their money back – or even reschedule a replacement gig for those who couldn’t make it.

The show, part of Boyle’s I Would Happily Punch Every One Of You In The Face tour, was advertised as the last time he would play his home town, as he has vowed to quit stand-up.

The situation has been further inflamed as the band Faithless have cancelled their gig there tonight on police advice, even though the weather has eased slightly. In any case, police last night advised people only to travel if absolutely necessary.

Fans who felt they wasted £30 on tickets posted angry messages on Boyle’s Facebook fan page.

Graeme Carroll said: ‘I feel that with the conditions yesterday and the sheer amount of snowfall, not to mention frozen fog, it would have simply been unsafe to travel. This is an opinion mirrored by Strathclyde police. It is ridiculous that refunds have not been offered to those who were unable to transport themselves to the venue.’

Glenn Thompson wrote: ‘Frankie Boyle you’re an unthoughtful money-grabbing twat. Good luck with the career and I hope your next gig is empty just like this one could have been.’

Paul Gribben added: ‘Did you see the weather? At least half couldn't make it, and those that did… had problems getting home. OK if you live in town, but anyone outside the town had no chance. People were stuck on M74 for 12hrs +. For the safety of fans, it should have been called off.’

And Lauren Attfield said: I honestly don't mind the fact that Frankie went ahead last night, if I had managed to make it from Greenock, I would have wanted him to go on too. The main point is, his management company need to do the right thing and give all of us who couldn't make it a full refund. I'll not be letting this go, £60 is too much money, especially at this time of year.’

The SECC said it was not their decision to cancel the show, saying in a statement: ‘SECC was ready and operational and therefore contractually obliged to make the venue available to present the show. Frankie Boyle was also legally required to present the show given that he had managed to travel from England to get to the venue and the staging and production had arrived and was in place.

‘Given that more than 4,500 fans turned up on the night it was also the right thing to do for those fans who had travelled and who would have been left severely disappointed if the show had been cancelled.

‘However there were just under 4,500 other fans who were unable to attend the show. The promoter, management team and artist have however confirmed that there will be no additional performances of the Frankie Boyle show.’

A statement from the promoter and his agents Chambers Management said: ‘While we fully understand the frustration of those fans of Frankie who couldn't make it to the gig tonight, we have an obligation to all ticket holders to go ahead with a show when we possibly can. More than half the audience did manage to make it to the SECC and Frankie did not want to disappoint them.

‘In these adverse weather conditions, we appreciate that some people could struggle to get to Frankie's remaining shows. However, in order not to let down all those fans who can make it to the venues, wherever possible we fully intend for these shows to go ahead’

And in the same statement, Boyle said: ‘Lots of people had travelled long distances to see the show, so obviously we had to go ahead.’

Fans' anger was exacerbated because the decision to go ahead with the show was only made at 5.20pm.

Published: 7 Dec 2010