RnB superstar Ciara was reportedly never booked to play the Auckland concert at Studio next Tuesday.
The news follows lacklustre shows in Christchurch and Wellington. Fans have expressed their frustration at the short sets where Ciara was only on stage for 10 minutes in Christchurch before being stopped by curfew rules, and for 25 minutes in Porirua in what was apparently a "pre-tour" show.
There are rumours of disputes between Ciara's management, booking agents and promoters. Her Christchurch concert was reportedly delayed by a couple of hours after her management demanded an extra $20,000 because there was a change in venue that they had not agreed to in the contract.
Here are the full statements from Castor & Ford, the NZ booking agents for the New Zealand leg of this tour:
"Our company was misled contractually by booking parties to provide Meet & Greet ticket holders with the opportunity to meet Ciara at her recent show at Te Rauparaha Arena in Porirua.
We would like to apologise to all fans and those affected by this experience and we are pursuing all legal avenues to ensure this does not happen again.
Ciara and her management by no means had any part to play in this and we would like to unreservedly apologise to her and her management for events over the last couple of days.
We would also like to thank Red Panda Entertainment and Fantail Media Group for putting on a fantastic show and working so hard to bring Ciara to Porirua. Thanks also goes to Ginnen Group who have assisted in sponsoring the artist and crew through this process."
"Due to false Booking contracts from the misleading Artist booking agents & Australian rep- Sin City Group, who had sold shows to the Promoters “Castor & Ford” in New Zealand & other promoters in Australia which never actually existed including other issues for the previous shows in Christchurch & Wellington of not informing artists of the venues, meet & greets and length of performance which the promoters paid for.
Castor & Ford the promoters would like announce that they must cancel the Auckland show due to these issues of these fraudulent contracts from the Artist booking agent and would like to apologise for any problems caused.
Full refunds will be made from dash tickets"
All purchasers are encouraged to contact Dash Tickets to follow up about their refunds.
