Aerosmith cancelled their planned show in Jarkarta, Indonesia on Saturday May 11th due to safety concerns. What they actually meant by safety concerns remains unclear.
15,000 fans were expected to attend the show with 85% of tickets sold in advance. The remaining tickets were expected to be sold out on the day. Fans in Indonesia and around Asia have beet left enraged by the decision.
One expat who lives in Thailand, James Stewart, fumed: “I’ve paid for flights, hotel, ticket and taken annual leave for this and now it’s all down the drain.”
According to Viva News, Jarkarta Police made this statement: “Jakarta Police confirm that Jakarta is safe from all threats.”
It dismissed accusations by the event organizer who said the cancellation was due to the safety factor.
“Jakarta is in safe condition, despite a bomb threat to the Myanmar embassy by suspected terrorists who were arrested yesterday in the Jocko. Fact, we are ready to secure the concert on May 11 in Kemayoran”, said Head of Public Relations Jakarta Police, Commissioner Rikwanto when contacted.
Rikwanto explains, coordination between the Directorate of Intelligence Jakarta Police Sub licensing with concert organizers is “pretty good so far”. “Licensing and the police are clear there is no problem. Later, a notice of cancellation of the concert has not been received so we do not know if they were not so to Jakarta because of the safety factor,” said Rikwanto.
Aerosmith did play in the Philippines a few days before. It is rather ironic if the band did cancel for fear of terrorism as the band are from Boston which has seen it’s own recent well publicised atrocity.
However, there has been rife speculation from fans in Indonesia on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter as to the real reasons behind the cancellation. Aerosmith have since announced two shows in Singapore on May 23rd in Marina Bay Sands and again on the 25th at The Meadow, Gardens By The Bay.
It has been alleged that the promoter from Singapore offered mega bucks to do the shows in Singapore on the understanding that the Indonesian show was cancelled. MetalTalk.net cannot confirm this.
The show on the 23rd at the opulent Marina Bay Sands is for the inaugural Social Media Awards, described as the ‘Oscars’ of the media. It is a unique 24 hour event where 288 awards will be given out, one every five minutes. Guests will include A-List celebrities from Hollywood and from all around the world with live music from Aerosmith, Korean pop phenomenon Psy, CeeLo Green and all girl Asian group Blush. Two days later Aerosmith perform an outdoor show at The Meadow, Gardens By The Bay which has a capacity of 30,000 people.
Below is the official cancellation notice of the Indonesian show.
“For immediate release:
“Cancellation letter of Aerosmith, The Global Warming Tour 2013
“It is with sincere regret, Dyandra Entertainment, Ismaya Live, and Sound Rhythm would like to inform you that the Aerosmith Global Warming World Tour 2013 at JIExpo Kemayoran, Jakarta Indonesia on May 11th 2013, is cancelled due to security and safety reasons that was explained by the band’s official management, MSO (Mitch Schneider Organization) earlier today.
“Hereby, is the letter we received from the band’s management today:
“AEROSMITH CANCEL MAY 11 SHOW IN JAKARTA, INDONESIA
“AEROSMITH have been forced to cancel their Saturday, May 11 concert at JIEXPO Kemayoran Jakarta, Indonesia due to safety concerns.
“Despite having a massive fan base in Indonesia, the band says: “Unfortunately, we have to cancel our upcoming show in Jakarta. We want to apologize to all our fans who were expecting to see us and hope that one day we can make it up to them.
“”We would also like to thank everyone at Dyandra Entertainment, Ismaya Live and Sound Rhythm for the time and effort they put into the pre-production of this show.”
“We, as the promoters, sincerely apologize for inconvenience caused by the unexpected news. Especially to all the fans, medias, sponsors, and everybody who has supported this event. We hope to secure a future replacement date, but at this time full time refunds will be offered to all ticket holders.
“The Aerosmith concert in Jakarta was expecting 15.000 people in crowd, with 85% tickets sold so far. However, because of the cancellation, we will give a full refund starting on May 11th 2013 for online purchases and on May 13th for offline purchases.
“Full info on the refund process is stated online at www.aerosmithjakarta.com.
“Aerosmith have been out on the Global Warming World Tour taking in Australia and New Zealand before bassist Tom Hamilton retired back home due to sickness with a chest infection. David Hull has taken over the bass duties until Hamilton returns.”
Below is some footage of the shows in Manilla, Philippines.
