Nigel Camilleri hides behind ‘no-comment’ on ticket refunds for Calleja, Winter Moods concerts

“You should ask MaltaTickets about that,” was Camilleri’s initial stock reply when confronted with the policy adopted by MaltaTickets.com, the official ticketing agency contracted by NnG Promotions, of not refunding tickets for those fans who cannot attend on the rescheduled dates, tomorrow and Friday for the Joseph Calleja and Winter Moods concert respectively.

However, when pressed for a comment as one of the directors of NnG Productions about the matter, Camilleri then hid behind a ‘no-comment’

“I am not commenting on this stage because we are too busy with the final touches to the concert,” the NnG director told MaltaToday curtly.

A standard email by MaltaTickets.com replying to queries was offering fans the opportunity to put up their tickets for resale online and at all normal sales outlets, but only if they could send proof that they had foreign engagements.

Nevertheless, “acceptance by us is not a guarantee that we will sell or that you will recover any money but we will try to do our best to do so,” the email added.

Winter Moods fans had turned to Facebook to vent their frustration at the decision to postpone the concert.

Over 100 comments were posted on the Facebook pages of the band, the promoters and the event itself in a few hours, with people expressing their disappointment, lamenting that they have other commitments, or even attempting to sell their tickets at a reduced price.

The band’s manager, singer Ivan Grech’s wife Deborah, was quoted as saying yesterday that “the decision to move the date for the concert was beyond the band’s control.”

“We regret that some fans may be unable to attend on Friday and thankful to those who have changed plans to be able to attend. The band has worked very hard during the past months to put together this show and are eager to share it with the fans,” she had added.

The postponement of the Winter Moods concert also meant that it now clashed with another concert that will be held nearby, that of folk band Brikkuni at the Ospizio.

However, the band’s frontman, Mario Vella, was quoted as saying that the band was not too concerned about the clash, noting that the 2 bands attracted different crowds anyway.

“The financial stakes for the Winter Moods concert are immense. They have to reschedule it whenever they feel it's best,” he was quoted as saying yesterday.

He added that while the sound quality may be affected, “if it’s not Winter Moods it’s fireworks etc,” and that while sound would obviously spill over, the band would try to counter it by cranking up its own volume.