21 Feb 2015

Ciara disappoints a third time

12:44 pm on 21 February 2015

A third dose of bad luck in as many days was delivered to fans of American RnB artist Ciara after her show in Cairns, Australia last night was cancelled due to Cyclone Marcia.

RnB artist Ciara

RnB artist Ciara Photo: AFP

On Instagram, the artist said her flight into Cairns was diverted to Melbourne.

On Wednesday at a performance in Christchurch, fans were furious they waited hours for her concert to begin, only to have it end after 10 minutes

And in Porirua on Thursday night she failed to show for a scheduled meet-and-greet with fans

Agent for the promoter Castor and Ford Aaron Thompson said he hoped the Cairns concert could be rescheduled sometime next week.

Mr Thompson also said about what plagued her New Zealand concerts and said most of the issues go back to the booking agent, Sin City Promotions.

Sin City own the contracts for touring Ciara throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

"Some miscommunication has gone awry on the contracts and Ciara's come here not expecting a few things and we're just sort of waiting for Sin City to clarify everything for everyone," Mr Thompson said.

Among the things that needed clarification was whether the Christchurch contract had been correctly signed off after the venue changed from an indoor student bar, to a nearby playing field.

Mr Thompson confirmed to Radio New Zealand that Ciara's management demanded a $20,000 cash payment just minutes before she took to the stage in Christchurch.

"She wasn't actually supposed to be putting on a show outside," he said.

"See we'd put forward that show to happen, and went through the right path to get that clarified so it could happen, but by the time she gets here for some reason she doesn't know about it," he said.

"That's why there was that hike up."

He believed Sin City Promotions failed to make sure Ciara and her management were aware of the change in venue.

"They obviously had no knowledge of it, that's why they demanded more money," Mr Thompson said.

"You know, that's fair enough."

Nevertheless, Castor and Ford had engaged lawyers on the matter.

Mr Thompson would not say what Ciara's total fee was for the tour, or how it compared to the $20,000 cash payment.

A source who was involved with the Christchurch event's promotion told Radio New Zealand that Ciara's manager demanded the extra fee just two minutes before she was supposed to go on stage at 9.30pm.

The person said the head investor from Ginnen Group (which has close links with Castor and Ford) agreed to pay the money via Internet banking straight away.

Ciara's manager, however insisted that the payment be in cash.

Over an hour later, the manager agreed to accept the electronic payment and Ciara eventually made it on stage at 10.50pm - 10 minutes before a local sound curfew came into effect.

The University of Canterbury Students Association, which manages the venue, said the concert could not go beyond curfew as it could jeopardise future events in that space.

Castor and Ford was encouraging all concert-goers to contact them to arrange a full or a partial refund from [info@castorandford.agency]

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