HOP FARM SHOWS TO WEMBLEY ARENA

[disapointed]

I got no notification of the cancellation - I just happend to notice in the local paper at the weekend that Hop Farm was cancelled. I bought my tickets from lastminute.com. They said they had had no notifciation of cancellation and would get in touch with the promotors . They now say say they can get no response from ticket sellers - has anyone got a refund yet?
I'm reluctant to buy new tickets until I know I'm going to get my money back.
Leonard Cohen management don't seem to care.

[disapointed]

good seats in blocks A2 and A4 still available -as at 6pm Monday 3 Sept for both days. assume they will go quickly

[Wybe]

Hi Disapointed.

See the first post in the thread.
And if you buy tickets for the UK concerts, do it here;
http://www.eventim.co.uk/tickets.html?f ... iliate=KUK

Wybe

[OCTAF1SH]

I got no notification of the cancellation - I just happend to notice in the local paper at the weekend that Hop Farm was cancelled. I bought my tickets from lastminute.com. They said they had had no notifciation of cancellation and would get in touch with the promotors . They now say say they can get no response from ticket sellers - has anyone got a refund yet?
I'm reluctant to buy new tickets until I know I'm going to get my money back.
Leonard Cohen management don't seem to care.

Hi there, so sorry that you only just heard, we're all in the same-ish boat though. I bought tickets from last minute too, and only heard when I asked them where my tickets were. I left it a week after they said they would send the tickets, and emailed them last Sunday. This is the response I got, on Monday of last week:

Thank you for booking with lastminute.com

I apologise for the delayed response.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, Leonard's two shows at Hop Farm, Kent on 8 and 9 September will no longer be taking place at that venue.

Leonard will still bring his much anticipated Old Ideas World Tour to the UK with the scheduled shows now taking place indoors, fully seated at London's historic Wembley Arena on 8 and 9 September.

As a valued friend of Leonard's, we will ensure that you will not miss out and will be issued a like for like ticket. Your seats for 8-Sep will now be situated in Reserved seat - Block S13.

Due to a change of venue, we are offering a full refund until midday on 31 August. After this time we may not be able to offer a refund and any request will be dealt with on a case by case basis.

Tickets for the rearranged shows will be sent on Monday 3 September by first class post.

Should you need any further information, please feel free to contact me.

Kind regards,

Rimi Bhattacharya
Customer Services Team


The "like for like" tickets they offered me were far from it, I thought, so I found others online, and called LM on Friday to cancel my original ones. They refunded me the money, including booking fee, without a question (although it will take 7-10 days to actually get the money). Not sure where you will stand now as it's after the deadline, although, if they've any decency at all, it won't be a problem as last minute don't seem to have proactively informed any of the ticket holders there was a problem, the solution to which required any sort of action before a given deadline.

The whole thing is very tedious, and while I know it's not lastminute's fault, personally I don't think they've handled it very well. Despite all this unpleasantness, I hope you get a good solution, either a refund, or some better replacement tickets than they offed me. As was said above, if you do buy more, eventim seem to be holding the best remaining ones, although I fear these will have gone now. Good luck.

[very disappointed]

I've just received my replacement tickets for Wembley arena instead of the Hop Farm on 09/09/12. The websites I read after the concert had been cancelled at the Hop Farm said : 'ticket holders will be invited to an exclusive pre-sale to purchase tickets for the new Wembley Arena dates and to have first access to the best seats in the house," said Cohen's website'.
Well my tickets are for seats in block N15 which is at the back and up the corner of the arena- hardly the best seats in the house. Needless to say I am very disappointed especially as no good reason had been given for the change of venue and I have lost money on hotel bookings in Kent. It's such a pity - I am still looking forward to the concert but the organisation behind the change leaves much to be desired.

[John Etherington]

Sorry to hear people's bad news! This whole thing is a horrible mess....working to the advantage of some and the disadvantage of others. Ironically, even now (4th September), you can still get good seats if you go to eventim.co.uk or even Ticketmaster. Currently Eventim are offering seats in the middle of block A4 and Ticketmaster seats in S8 (one of the best side blocks). And a word of advise...don't accept the first seats they offer you if you're not satisfied...try again and something better might come up. I suspect there will also be loads of seats available on the night, due to the way the agencies are still fervently advertising the shows. By the way, Ticketmaster are still advertising Hop Farm, alongside the Wembley Shows. Finally, in case anyone didn't know (and Eventim don't!), Wembley say the concert starts at 7.30 (doors 6.30pm, box office 5.30pm).

[Mabeanie1]

I've just received my replacement tickets for Wembley arena instead of the Hop Farm on 09/09/12. The websites I read after the concert had been cancelled at the Hop Farm said : 'ticket holders will be invited to an exclusive pre-sale to purchase tickets for the new Wembley Arena dates and to have first access to the best seats in the house," said Cohen's website'.
Well my tickets are for seats in block N15 which is at the back and up the corner of the arena- hardly the best seats in the house. Needless to say I am very disappointed especially as no good reason had been given for the change of venue and I have lost money on hotel bookings in Kent. It's such a pity - I am still looking forward to the concert but the organisation behind the change leaves much to be desired.

I understand that you are disappointed, very disappointed but I have a question: where was your seat for Hop Farm? If you have been allocated a seat in block N15 I would hazard a guess that you bought your ticket from one of the secondary ticket agencies AND that you didn't exactly have the best seat in the house for Hop Farm. Sorry to be blunt but I can assure you that people who booked through the main ticket agency, Eventim, WERE given links and codes to buy Wembley tickets from an allocation of seats which definitely included the "best seats in the house". No one was "allocated" seats - everyone was able to chose their own seats for the new shows and had the option not to buy new tickets. I know many people who were disappointed that their new seats were nothing like as good as their original Hop Farm seats but their original seats were in the first few (e.g. 4th) rows.

I do agree with you that the organisation behind the change left a lot to be desired. However, I also suspect that the change of venue and related arrangements were all put together within a very few days. Sadly in these situations arrangements may not be completely thought through and communication has a tendency to break down, as was evident in the couple of days following the announcement of the switch.

As to the explanation for the change of venue, this is as plain as the nose on your face if you Google "Hop Farm" or "Vince Power", particularly in relation to their position following the July festival. The reason has also been discussed on here. I can give you a further clue: it has nothing to do with the weather in Kent in September. Reasons are rarely spelled out in official press releases either out of courtesy to the parties or for legal reasons.

I hope you enjoy the show. Leonard's sound engineers are amongst, if not the, best in the business so I'm sure you'll have great sound in N15.


Wendy

[jarkko]

I also suspect that the change of venue and related arrangements were all put together within a very few days

They had no choice but to do all of it in one afternoon and the next night - and the only other alternative was to have no concerts in the UK at all!!!

[LHHUNTER]

What you say is all very well Jarkko but I think we were still due a proper explanation for change of venue

[John Etherington]

My guess is that they didn't sell enough tickets for the Sunday. Apart from those who got front block centre, no one in their right mind would pay these prices to sit on the outskirts of a farm on a September night! Ironically though, it looks like a perfect weather week. It also looks as if there are still loads of tickets available for Wembley.

[Mabeanie1]

My guess is that they didn't sell enough tickets for the Sunday.

This is not correct. The reasons are elsewhere. As I said above, just Google Hop Farm or Vince Power and the truth will out.

Wendy

[lightasabreeze]

If there are still loads of tickets left for Wembley, what does that say about us. Could this be why he is not touring here? Most other places appear to be sold out even adding extra nights in some places.
Wembley Arena is not that big I would have thought a sell out inevitable.

[comehealing]

Surely not? Who would possibly want to miss a Master of his craft
amaze London once more?

Moreover, I struggle to think of another living artist who can
offer his audience 4 hours of unparalleled excellence and
create an atmosphere that is electric and tangible in its
magic.

Leonard and his band are one of the wonders of the
modern age.

[Mabeanie1]

Both Wembley shows are well on the way to selling out. Check out the seat maps on Eventim. There is still a fair bit of availability in the front rows at the sides from the release of seats previously held for Hop Farm ticket holders, also category 2 tickets on the side about half way down the hall presumably also previously held for Hop Farm ticket holders, but the overall impression is that the arena will be pretty full on both nights.

The number of good tickets released and still available from the "Past Bookers" allocations did surprise me. I do wonder how many people are only now returning from 2 weeks' holiday to find out about the venue switch? It's difficult to know what else could have been done to alert people to the change but not everyone has a smart phone (I don't) or other internet access when they are travelling, especially if they are away for a couple of weeks in the sun with the family.

Sigh.

Wendy

[bean]

I got the £2.50 missed event insurance refunded as well

Always worth an extra e-mail arguing the point