Disney cancels East Hartford concert

New Cromwell resident wrote:

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10,000 other people figured it out. What does that say about the dozen or so that showed up?! As for kids our first one is due any day. Like I said disappointment is understandable. 2 hrs of crying is not. Besides Mom missed a great oppurtunity to turn their trip into an adventure. They drove 2 hrs, take the kids to Mystic,Hammonassett,Lake Compunce...something to make something out of nothing.

When you child is 2 or 3 and you have something like this that they are all excited about, and then you have to deal with the disappointment, they you have the right to talk. You don't know what it is like to tell a small child that does not understand disappointment. Even if it is not the parents fault, they are always at fault anyway. Then there is the fact that some people came from NY, Mass, and all over CT. Do you know how long it takes to get from East Harford to Hammonassette? or Mystic? Especially for someone from Mass or upstate NY? Think before you speak. Gas is expensive, the cost of the tickets was expensive, and not everyone has the money to be driving all over the state trying to find something else to do, and to pay for something else to do. I almost got tickets to this show, but my husband has been working and I didn't want to take the kids by myself.

I do have one trick for other parents. This is something that I do so that 1) my kids don't drive me crazy before the event and 2) if for some reason it gets canceled, I don't have to deal with the disappointment. I don't tell the kids what we are doing until we are walking in the door. This is starting to get harder with my son, because he is able to read now, but it has always worked well with many other things. We even took them on a weekend "get-a-way" to my in-laws 5 hours away and we made a game out of "Where are we going?" for 4 hrs and 45 mins of it, before they figured out where we were going.

OMG .. I am soooo upset. I just got news that the all shows, except Long Island, have been cancelled. I bought my tickets for this Saturday (08/09)as soon as they came out. I have been promoting this thing sooooooo much ... posters, e-mails, blogs, etc. I had for sure 50 people who had bought tickets for this weekend ... and now I just got word that they are cancelled. I just can't believe it. I had been pumping my little girl for this show ... she wanted to see the all of her favorites this weekend.

Please tell me that this is an error ... please tell me that it will be rescheduled.

I am so upset right now ... now .. I will have to call everyone that I know to let them know.

Ohhhh and it is BS that Disney will not offer a statement. How dispointing.

New Cromwell resident wrote:

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10,000 other people figured it out. What does that say about the dozen or so that showed up?! As for kids our first one is due any day. Like I said disappointment is understandable. 2 hrs of crying is not. Besides Mom missed a great oppurtunity to turn their trip into an adventure. They drove 2 hrs, take the kids to Mystic,Hammonassett,Lake Compunce...something to make something out of nothing.

LOL - famous last words "I don't have kids - yet". Get back to us in 3 or 4 years and then you might tell us all the things you ended up doing that you SWORE you'd never do! Yeah, I thought I'd be a perfect mom too - then reality sets in!

Good luck with your baby!

build a bridge and get over it...omg

Mr. Wilson should check his facts before writing his article. The band Barenaked Ladies was NOT scheduled to appear in the Connecticut concert or any other concerts that were canceled by Disney yesterday. Also, Mr. Wilson also reported incorrectly that all Disney Music Block Party concerts were canceled. They were not. Ironically, the three that remain on the schedule are later this month on Long Island. Those three were the ONLY concerts where Barenaked Ladies were going to appear, but they bowed out on their own prior to all of this and were replaced by They Might Be Giants.

This whole issue is not due to a band with a drug arrest. It's due to mismanagement by the tour company (AEG Live) and Disney following poor ticket sales and low turnouts at the first few shows.

Sue wrote:

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FYI, I believe they are closing all the Disney stores
so watch, they probably will give gift cards, but the store will be gone when you get there!

Sue - There is a Disney store in Westfarms Mall in West Hartford that is still open. I believe it is the only one in Connecticut still open.

meg516 wrote:

Ok I understand how parents and children are upset about this. But the article did say that the lead singer for one of the headliners was busted on drug charges. That is most likely why Disney canceled the tour. What kind of message would Disney be sending if the kept the tour going with drug addicts preforming? Is that the kind of role model you want for your children? I certianly dont.

Barenaked Ladies were only playing in Long Island and after they voluntarily pulled out of the show were replaced by They Might Be Giants. The only way this tour was promoted was through some of the artists who were performing. Not once did I see any advertising on Disney.

I highly doubt that "10,000" people figured it out. Probably closer to 1000. The concert obviously got canceled b/c the ticket sales were abysmal. I've seen photos from the one show that was held the previous weekend, and there were almost no people in the front by the stage. It looked more like a sound check than an actual show. Since tickets had been on sale for 1.5 months before that singer got arrested, it's not like that should have had any real effect on ticket sales--if the festival had been in demand, there would have been more than enough tickets sold before the news hit. And as has already been noted, the only shows that are still on are the ones that had been marketed as featuring the band. They probably would have done better asking the band to appear at ALL the shows, rather than asking them to drop out.

As for listening to the news prior to leaving, there were no announcements in our area on television, nothing in the paper, and nothing on the radio. Ticketmaster did try to contact ticket holders, but Disney really should have contacted ALL the news media in the area and said "We need your help getting the word out to people." Instead they just kept their mouths shut. Real classy.

rediculous

AGG and Karen pretty much nailed it. Cancellation had nothing to due with Bare Naked Ladies dropping out. It seems the whole thing was ill-concieved, poorly promoted and ticket sales were abysmal. Ticket pricing seemed a bit high as well.

My understanding from one of the performers is that while expectations were for a few thousand people each day, they were getting somewhere around 500-700. They decided to cut their losses while they still could.

Hopefully, nobody will blame the artists who were on the tour. They obviously were scheduled and ready to do the full tour and are actually disappointed and regret that their fans are disappointed as well.

If you have complaints, definitely find a way to let Disney know, but please continue to support these fine artists and performers!

Phil wrote:

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Actually, it is pretty tough to turn over because those caskets are very confining! I'm afraid you are stuck on your back!

Didn't they freeze him like Dr. Evil?

This has nothing to do with the Barenaked Ladies singer. They were only going to perform at the final three shows in Long Island, AND they had already been replaced by They Might Be Giants for those dates. According to the website, the Long Island shows are still on. My guess is that ticket sales were too low. I went to the first show of the tour at Tom's River, New Jersey. It was very good but maybe only half-capacity.

We're in Chicago and our dates got cancelled. It was my daughter's 3rd Birthday GIFT, so now we've gotta' go see the stupid WIGGLES. At least THEY didn't cancel. A mixture of things happened. The show was poorly promoted, 3 dates in each city + the ticket price at $50 after taxes & fees. People are struggling in this economy and the average family simply can't drop $200 on one afternoon. I believe there was no profit to be made-so they bailed out.

I sent an email to Disney that night, and have still not heard from them regarding a refund. My 5-year old was very disappointed, and I am really surprised at Disney's lack of response and attitude on this.