Transition in Leeds A little light entertainment for you this afternoon. Its the fallout from the ill-fated June event that I believe MK X was booked at. Original thread from Anjuna Reply and discussion thread from the Hardwick Board Enjoy.
Hi John 2000, Many apologises regarding our last event at the end of June, it was a massive dissapointment on lots of levels for us and our team believe you and me in terms of it being a success. You raise some very honest and true facts about the outcome of the last event and i would like to pick up on all the points you raised because as a fellow clubber myself i would agree totally that there were mistakes made in all camps on June 26th. Firstly John it's not a case of us getting our voices back, honestly if we could have put out a press release about the event before now we would have done seriously, but due to a couple of complications contractually we are currently bound not to disclose certain information about why certain things didn't happen on the night because it's now subject to a case we are having built by our solicitors against certain individuals to do with breaches of contract amongst things which is why i cannot say anymore than that im affriad. So until that plays it's self out we can't actually tell you the exact reasons why particular things didn't happen, but what we can do is give you a brief overview of the feeling from our perspective if you'll allow us the opportunity to give you some kind of explanation as to why that event didn't go off. As far as a lack of crowd is concerned, we were simply up against three of the best trance and techno major powerhouses that same weekend which crushed us in terms of numbers, as im sure you were aware, both Gatecrasher and Godskitchen ran events on the following night here in Leeds and in Birmingham, while Cocoon and the reminder of he students ventured to a huge outdoor festival which was also staged here in Leeds on the following day which simply decimated the friday night trance & student crowd and prohibited them from attending our event, which i'm sure you can appreciate. People will always in times of recessions choose the successful and long term brands over a new brand if it comes down to the old finances etc and plus Friday nights in the uk are currenly imploding on themselves because there either isn't many people around because they're either skint or work on Saturdays, or they simply choose to do one big night out a week, which most people would agree with, is either going to be spent at a club night that has an already established brand and they can almost garentee that it's going to be busy or they spend friday night in the local boozer with friends and family. Once we heard that there were these three huge events on the day after ours we tried to pull the event about 5-6weeks before hand but the venue and the contracts we had signed upto wouldn't allow us the luxury of that viable and indeed neccessary option i'm sorry to say, which we felt at the time was incredibly harsh,because we could predict exactly how our event would play out and the prognosis wasn't good at all. However contracts signed, we were legally bound and tied in to a fateful experience that was indeed a sobering reality check for all concerned. With the venue situated where it was it never allowed for passing trade either and we knew that, that in itself would cause us problems in times like these too. So as the jigsaw fits together piece by piece i hope things are a little bit clearer for you now in terms of why this event didn't go to plan. As far as Mr Ottaviani is concerned yes he was there all day at the venue with us preparing his setup and stage for the evenings proceedings after he'd flown in from Ibiza to Leeds/Bradford Airport to be with us, but indeed you are right when you say he didn't play. Now all i can say on the matter at this moment in time is we wanted him to play and we had made ample provisions for him to do so all day, that is the genuine truth, but it was simply his decision on seeing the turn out at the event, half an hour prior to his set that prompted him to suddenly change his mind and decide that he no longer wanted to perform because there simply wasn't enough people there to warrant him playing. Even the club owner asked him to play after explaining the situation and reasoning behind the low turn out to him personally but in the end the decision was his to make and unfortunately he stuck to his guns and w couldn't persuade him to. We were as frustrated and bewildered as i'm sure you were John. Unfortunately we can't say anymore on the matter right now other than we were extremely dissapointed with that outcome. Moving swiftly on though, because there was the matter of the Infrasonic room not opening to also contend with, now this situation arose because the venue owners saw the event as too quiet to open up both rooms concerned, especially as the mian room was everyone's priority. It's a fact of life John that promoters are only as good as the venue owners and managers ad the crowds that turn up allow them to be it has to be said. The lack of genuine co-operation and helpfullness and indeed forsight from all caused numerous problems that night and so despite them wanting us to return with our brand in September, we have opted not to because it was be foolish and rather catastrophic knowing how the last event went in all honesty, despite us running two huge and what can only be described as very successful parties there previously. As we are accutely aware, one bad event can marre all the good done previously. So it's time to re-assess the situation naturally. So we have been quick to respond to people frustrations and sourced another venue with a similar kind of ethos and layout to our previous venue except it's on more of a compact scale and it has bags of character, but what attracted us to it predominently was the way in which it is run and the management team are fully supportive of this venture and how we want it to run etc and so the transition to a new venue has become paramount to us wanting to rectify the last event with a superb event in November. Why you may ask yourself? Well because we aren't going to give up the ghost on one bad event having run two biggies previously it would be stupid of us and rather adolescent to walk away at this point. Because lets face it in life everyone makes mistakes it's human, it's what we all do at some stage or other in our lives and we are not going to throw in the towel simply to satisfy all the doomsday sayers and those that probably naturally give up on things after a couple of attempts in life, because otherwise your just a failure and failure is not acceptable. At some point or other you have to stick with some thing and see it through to the bitter end if you want to achieve something positive and regardless of all those that prefer other brands to ours or what not, we won't go quietly into the night until we are good and ready, so i'm sorry to dissapoint you John if that's what you were expecting! Everyone knows we choose a difficult year to launch a new brand and with the recession and all, things are very very hard out there in te UK right now and that simply is an inescapable fact backed up by recent business figures, so we need to up our game and work towards the future and not the past, because life is too damn short. The music is what matters and not other people's egos and negativity. Life and indeed running clubbing brands is all about how many times you can get knocked down and keep getting back up while striving forward, it's about the highs and the lows. You cannot just have one without the other im sorry to say, but that's life and i've experienced it from all angles having worked on the clubbing circuit for the last ten years in various capacities. Finally the matter of refunds on the night, well it's very simple really we couldn't issue any because the venue rightfully needed all box office monies taken on the night to pay for door staff and obviously with few customers this left us with nothing effectively. We had opened a dialogue between us and them regarding doorstaff being paid the following monday when we could effectively go to the bank to retrieve the doorstaff wages but they simply wouldn't let us do that because it wasn't professional and the doorstaff company needed paying that night, so we couldn't give any refunds on the night because there wasn't any money to give back anyhow due to so few people turning out etc. However what i think could well be viable is that if you have your ticket or proof of purchase from the last event we could well issue you with a freebie for our next event if your interested as a way of us apolgising to you for the inconvienience caused that night! So PM me if your keen to take me up on that offer people alright? Last but not least, as far as Ollie and Mark are concerned they are both good friends of ours and have already been consulted about this idea in great detail and are currently in talks to make this happen providing both management teams can be satisfied that there is indeed a market for this concept, especially after they both playd our two previously successful events they are more than happy to look at the option. So fingers crossed folks. Sorry folks that this statement was been delayed but things are still being ironed out legally and all the rest of it so that's the reason for the lack of communication. We are always here to accept everyone's point of views and suggestions wheather we agree with them or not, everyone is fully entitled to their opinions and beliefs because that's what our democrazy is all about thank god!
then the owner of Kerbcrawlers response: after reading suvidans massive explanation for his incompetence i was forced to write a reply from the club that has been so harshly slandered,and point out the kind of people that laughingly promote the dead brand transistion briefly a few key points We were NOT short staffed We DID NOT take all the door money We were NOT asked to cancel the event in advance and we had staff on site all day and night working to sort out bad promotional issues. This was the third exceptionally poor event put on by Mr Suvidan the 2nd of which he actually ran away during the event so as to avoid paying the dj's due to lack of people coming...the succesful events he is talking about never happened at kerbcrawler due to constant fighting and bitching between the two main promoters...they have never not once promoted a night in leeds anyone wants to come to, the most they got in ever was 300 in a 1500 capacity venue.... we as a club have to put faith in big talking promoters, its a shock when we find out they pretend to know the industry whilst actually working part time as clerks in insurance back offices no club wants an empty night and thats why they are not rebooked at the venue i would warn anyone wishing refunds that they are in for a long wait and as for getting freebie entrance to compensate i mean who are they trying to kid? and mr suvidan any further slander will see you in legal hot water
and finally, Sam from PFA's response: Hi Anjunabeats Forum, My name is Sam Newson from PFA and I manage Giuseppe Ottaviani in the UK. After reading the above post I have decided to join this forum and issue an official statement about the events that occurred on June 26th. I would first of all like to make the point known that, although ‘Suvidan’ claims that they tried to cancel the event 5-6weeks beforehand but couldn’t due to contracts, he never contacted myself or any of my colleagues at PFA to try and cancel this gig – as there would not have been a problem with this. From speaking to Giuseppe about the events on the night, he informed me that he sat round at his hotel room waiting to get picked up - in fact he even rang me at about 1:45 to find out where his driver was and to let me know he hadn’t been collected from the Hotel. The promoters eventually arrived at the hotel and told Giuseppe that the gig was cancelled and that THEY did not want him to play in front of just 10 people! – Giuseppe did not even venture from his Hotel room that night as it was the promoters who told him he would not be playing. Giuseppe was very disappointed to not play this gig which is why we arranged another one the month later at Gatecrasher so as not to completely disappoint his Leeds fans. I have personally tried to contact the promoters various times since the event, including phone calls, text messages, voice mails, emails and even via. Facebook and have had no response from either. Not only did they cancel the gig on the night without prior warning to me or the artist, they never even let the agency, or I know that the gig had been cancelled afterwards. On top of this they still owe Giuseppe money from the gig as well as travel costs that he has personally paid out for - costs that they promised would be transferred the following week. The promoters have made no effort to get in touch with myself or anybody from PFA and have shown no remorse with the events of that night or even any thought about paying back money owed – which is why I was so shocked when I read the above. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of Giuseppe’s fans for supporting him and to log onto his website www.giuseppeottaviani.com for more information as to where he will be appearing in the UK next. On a personal not to John2000 I am extremely sorry about what happened in June and would like to offer you a free Guestlist place to one of Giuseppe’s next UK gigs – a full listing can be found on his site – just message me your details and I’ll do my best. Thanks, Sam Newson (PFA) Promoter Friendly Agency 2 Morpeth Street Swinton, M27 5QW www.pfagency.net - Next Generation of Artist & Brand Management
I took that there is 2 promoters - Sam & Danny The gig basically went totally tits up, no DJ's were paid & no one really knew what was going on. Danny blames everyone, bar staff included Sam, Ottavani's PA & the nightclub owner call that Danny a liar & everyone on the board seems to agree If anyone wants to put me right feel free but thats how I read it
