Uh! Uh! Uh! Beyonce bust tonight?
TSTT was, furiously, hawking tickets today for show that appears to be a monumental financial flop.
Tonight’s Beyonce concert, promoted as the biggest show ever in Trinidad and Tobago,
may end up being the biggest flop as well.
Up to this afternoon, local State-controlled telecommunications company TSTT were desperately hawking tickets as reports indicated that people were simply not buying the tickets for the show- tickets priced at $500, $1,000 and $1,6000.
It is understood, that the company is assured of at least $7 million in ticket sales although it is spending, conservatively, in excess of $15 million.
The Communication Workers Union said its internal intelligence suggests that the show would be a massive “financial flop.
The union’s secretary John Remy called for an investigation by the Government claiming that the company had spent $30 million on the show while workers were still getting2002 salaries.
Graeme Suite, TSTT’s public relations officer, did indicate that tickets could be still obtained and added that sales were going well although he did not say how many of the 20,000 tickets for the Queen’s Park Savannah show have, in fact, been sold.
He did emphasise that there would be “limited seating” since the concert was not a “sit down show”, indicating that it was like a party type event.
TSTT has spent at least a couple of million dollars in advertising on the print and electronic media in the past month and has resorted to give away tickets in various promotional competitions and group packages while the Grammy Award winning star will herself give away 300 tickets.
The show will be held at the Queen’s Park West -from Casuals corner to Queen’s Royal College- and will begin at six with an one hour performance by soca singer Machel Montano.
The diva is scheduled to begin her 90-minute performance at eight.
The irony of this Beyonce debacle is the fact that last month Carnival interests were predicting that it would have an adverse financial effect on the so-called “Greatest Show on Earth”.
As Beyonce herself would sing”Uh, Uh ,Uh, Uh, Uh, Uh!”