THOUSANDS of fans who missed out on seeing Scots comedian Frankie Boyle in Glasgow on Monday night because of arctic weather have been left out in the cold again – after being told they won’t be given a refund.
Venue bosses at the SECC – staging the gig – said they had no option but to press ahead with hosting the show after Boyle turned up as planned, despite widespread travel chaos and police warnings for people not to travel.
The SECC issued a statement saying that they had been told by Boyle’s management company that no refunds would be offered despite 4500 fans – half the expected audience – had been unable to make it to the venue.
They said: “It is the SECC’s understanding that the promoter and artist management will not be making refunds given that the show went ahead as planned.”
A decision not to axe the 8pm gig still hadn’t been made public until after 5pm.
Thousands of fans were left furious at eventually being told the gig would go ahead.
But the SECC added: “Scottish Exhibition + Conference Centre (SECC) was ready and operational and therefore contractually obliged to make the venue available to present the Frankie Boyle show last night.
“Frankie Boyle was also legally required to present the show given that he had managed to travel from England to get to the venue and the staging and production had arrived and was in place.
“Given that over 4,500 fans turned up on the night it was also the right thing to do for those fans who had travelled and who would have been left severely disappointed if the show had been cancelled.
“However there were just under 4,500 other fans who were unable to attend the show.
“The promoter, management team and artist have however confirmed that there will be no additional performances of the Frankie Boyle show.”
Calls to Chambers Management, who promote Boyle, were unanswered this morning (tues).
But in a statement issued on their behalf by the SECC, they said: “While we fully understand the frustration of those fans of Frankie who couldn’t make it to the gig tonight (mon), we have an obligation to all ticket holders to go ahead with a show when we possibly can.
“More than half the audience did manage to make it to the SECC and Frankie did not want to disappoint them.”
Boyle is also due to play sold out shows in snow hit Aberdeen on Wednesday and Thursday, along with dates in Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool.
His spokeswoman added: “In these adverse weather conditions, we appreciate that some people could struggle to get to Frankie’s remaining shows.
“However, in order not to let down all those fans who can make it to the venues, wherever possible we fully intend for these shows to go ahead.”
A one line quote issued on behalf of Boyle read: “Lots of people had travelled long distances to see the show, so obviously we had to go ahead.”
This morning (Tues) dance band Faithless announced their show at the SECC tonight was being cancelled after Strathclyde Police warned people not to travel because of the bad weather.
The SECC said full refunds would be available for that show.
