Lionel Richie cancels tonight's Newbury gig
Published 22 Sep 2012 07:30
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LIONEL Richie has cancelled his gig at Newbury Racecourse tonight (Saturday) due to illness. About 20,000 people were expected to attend what would have been the singer's first concert in the UK for three years.
Anyone going to Newbury today is reminding there is still a bumper day of racing on the second day of the Dubai Duty Free International Weekend.
Those who have bought tickets will automatically get £15 compensation (£25 for Golden Circle holders). Additionally, they can apply to the racecourse for a free ticket for racing at Newbury on Saturday, November 29.
Racecourse managing director Stephen Higgins said: "We are disappointed for our racegoers and for all of the Lionel Richie fans. However, we can still look forward to a day of racing."
Richie had a string of hits in the 1970s and 1980s, both with the Commodores and as a solo artist, including Hello, Stuck on You, Dancing on the Ceiling and Endless Love.
In a statement his management said: "Lionel is extremely disappointed that he has had to cancel his appearance at The Racecourse Newbury tomorrow. He has been looking forward to his visit and performing at this unique venue."
For more, see http://www.newbury-racecourse.co.uk/
Have your say. Post a comment on this article.
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fluffy
Unregistered User
Sep 22, 11:47
Report commentReally disappointed. I was only going to Newbury to see Lionel Ritchie as I am not interested in horse racing at all. Feel cheated to only be getting part of the ticket price back.
Recommend?
Yes 7
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MollyMay
Unregistered User
Sep 22, 12:28
Report commentI knew friends were going and when I rang them at Midday today they didn't know about this cancellation! Of course they were disappointed but rather upset that they hadn't been officially notified - if that's generally the case, there's going to be an awful lot of fans who are going to be rather cross!
Recommend? Yes 6
No 0
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Jazzy Camel
Unregistered User
Sep 22, 14:28
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Stickslavelle
Unregistered User
Sep 22, 22:32
Report commentWe arrived at Newbury (after 1.5 hours drive) to find that the concert was cancelled and we'd received no notification prior to that. Mind you when I emailed them to find out when the concert would be starting/finishing they never bothered replying to that either! We were only going to see Lionel Richie and think that the £15 offered per ticket is an insult when we'd paid £35 for each ticket. We are not happy and will be speaking to our credit card companies to see if they can demand our re-payment in full - after all it's not our fault the concert didn't happen and if it had been like any other concert cancelled due to the performer not being able to perform we would have automatically received a refund in full and not a measly £15! Unless Newbury Races changes their refund policy on this occasion, we will definitely never book for any future event being held there.
Recommend? Yes 4
No 0
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KarinefromOxford
Unregistered User
Sep 23, 00:06
Report commentCan't agree more! So disappointed tonight... My husband and I had really been looking forward to it as it seemed such a great opportunity to see an international artist not too far from home (we live in Oxford) and for what seemed a very reasonable price... Well not anymore!!! We are not interested in the Races at all and feel that the £20 entry ticket to the Races/ £15 compensation is just ridiculous! We only found out that the concert had been cancelled as we walked into the venue... Seeing the empty stage in the afternoon sunshine was rather painful!!! There is going to be an awful lot of very annoyed fans who would have travelled much further than us and for whom a free entry ticket to the Races in November (as suggested by Newbury Races on top of the £15) will be a poor compensation for a wasted journey!! Now a free ticket to his Birmingham or London performances would be gratefully accepted ;-)
Lionel, we missed you ALL NIGHT LONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Recommend? Yes 3
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Intherealworld
Unregistered User
Sep 23, 12:43
Report commentI rang the racecourse earlier in the week to ask about timings as I was ordering a taxi from Wokingham. I was told the last race was at 4.45 and that Lionel Ritchie was going to come on to do a set of around 75 minutes 15 minutes after the last race, so at just gone 5pm. Bought a programme yesterday and the last race was at 5.30. I'd already let the cab company know that the concert was cancelled as we received a text message from Ticketmaster in the cab on our way to the races, then I had to ring again to say that the last race was 45 minutes later than I'd been told. Case of left hand doesn't know what right hand's doing? A shambles!
Recommend? Yes 3
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tapdance
Unregistered User
Sep 24, 10:13
Report commentAs always the greedy management in the UK, newbury racecourse
is keeping the profit and they can do it with no loss of future attendance therefore
profit .Hence £15 offer
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No 0
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David1975
Unregistered User
Sep 24, 14:57
Report commentGood.We don't want him here.Who want's to see that vastly over rated Ego maniac anyway.I would'nt cross the street to see him.He never meant s**t to me
Recommend? Yes 0
No 3
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Badger
Unregistered User
Sep 24, 16:29
Report commentPhone or pop into your bank and ask them to do a chargeback. It works more times than not.
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harry2
Unregistered User
Sep 24, 17:44
Report commentYou can not know when the last race will be until 48HRS beforehand, when the final declarations are made. If any race has more than the safety limit, then it is split into TWO, thus adding an extra race (as happened at the Jessie J PITP) . This is a RACE meeting with "music" as an extra, not a Lionel Richie concert. And do you expect Newbury Racecourse to contact 22,000 RACEGOERS at 7.30 on a Friday night, get real. All the staff had just done a 10+ hour day and were at home. These things happen,
Recommend? Yes 1
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Alexander
Unregistered User
Sep 25, 00:57
Report commentDavid 1975
What an utter dick head , most would agree.
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Bubbles16
1 post
Sep 26, 20:46
Report commentI agree!! Obviously someone from Newbury racecourse making money from people's disappointment! They never would have sold so many tickets without the concert end of story! Please write to watchdog, I have and been told many more have. They deserve bad press to highlight their terrible customer service!!
Recommend? Yes 2
No 1
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******
Sep 26, 21:41
Report commentThis comment has been removed by a moderator
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Stickslavelle
Unregistered User
Sep 27, 22:04
Report commentYou'd think the management could afford to have paid someone out of the £400K gross profit they made from the sales, so they could have had the decency to let everyone know the concert was cancelled!
All they've offered is a race day - in December when it's likely to be freezing cold & everyone's busy with Christmas. No one's interested in the racing!
You couldn't buy the ticket for Lionel Richie without paying for the race day (but you could just pay for the race day if you were interested in that I notice)! Therefore the FULL ticket price should be refunded - simples!
Recommend? Yes 1
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Anni
Unregistered User
Oct 19, 15:23
Report commentLionel Richie has always been special to us and so this was to be our anniversary treat to perhaps hear "our song". We didn't pay £95 through Ticketmaster to get £30 back it's so wrong. It means we will never book another concert alongside a race course day. With any other booking we would have got another date or full refund. Wonder if Lionel feels bad and would like to pay us all back with all his wealth or perhaps he took out insurance and could pay with that! We're never going to feel the same about him again which is a shame.
Recommend? Yes 0
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