Refunds are being processed for Sean Paul concert: Promoter

Erik Nielsen, of EN Productions, is assuring the public that anyone who bought tickets for a Sean Paul concert that was supposed to happen at The Yard tonight will be getting their money back if they don't want to wait for a new date.

“Refunds have already begun to be processed and will continue to be processed,” Nielsen told SooToday via email. “Depending on the credit card used, these could take up to 14 to 21 business days to be seen on your account to be safe. Everyone will get their refund for this event.”  

“Sean Paul’s team has been very accommodating and understanding to our situation and are working with us to put on a great show in the future!”

At least one person who purchased Sean Paul tickets online received the following notification regarding the postponement:

Due to unfavourable conditions at The Yard we are unable to proceed with the Sean Paul concert on May 17th, 2019.

At present, it would be a potential health and safety concern for the artists and concert goers to attend.

Ticket holders will be notified via email of the new event date when available.

We apologize for the inconvenience and are working diligently to secure the new concert date likely for August or September.

Refunds will be processed for those that cannot attend the future date.

Submit a refund request by clicking this link

Note: After a refund is processed, it takes approximately 5-10 business days to show up as a credit depending upon the bank.

Meanwhile, people who purchased tickets from Soo Blaster, Case’s Music or The Other Guys will be able to request a refund in person.

Marty Major, co-owner of The Other Guys, said he had a feeling that the concert wasn’t going to happen.

His business sold a total of four tickets, and has since issued refunds for all of them.

“I never handed in their money, because I knew this was going to happen,” he said.

The Other Guys also received a refund from EN Productions for a $2,000 sponsorship which Major says was supposed to include the name of the business in the initial advertising for the concert.

“It just sucks, because it makes small businesses like myself who do sponsor stuff . . . it makes us leery to go ahead and sponsor things again,” Major said.

Nielsen sent SooToday a statement via email Thursday in response to our request for an interview:

“As the date to the concert was approaching and I was in the process of meeting with all of the necessary parties to finalize permits, guidelines, and set-ups. We were hit with a large amount of rain.

This rainfall in conjunction with a late thaw of snow did not clear the venue from the winter months. As a result there was a vast amount of garbage and debris that needed to be cleared and the ground was heavily saturated with water.

It was at that point that I became concerned that the venue would not able to withstand the heavy equipment load, and trucks needed to get in a set up the staging, screens, porta-potties, tenting, bars, VIP tents etc.

I made several trips to the venue over the period of the next couple of weeks and saw the conditions deteriorating. It was at that point I began to look for alternative venues and stopped the process of getting the permits and would have to reapply under the new venue.”

Nielsen says that he had been in contact with GFL Memorial Gardens about a possible change of venue.

“I approached the GFL arena [GFL Memorial Gardens] to possibly move the venue indoors but once we looked at the number of tickets sold and having to refund and re-sell tickets under the GFL system, ticket holders would be subject to [two] sets of service fees and the arena would not be able to accommodate the number of people that had already purchased tickets,” he stated via email.   

But some people are left to wonder why information surrounding the postponement of the Sean Paul concert wasn’t made available to the public sooner.

SooToday originally broke the news of the concert postponement May 9 after speaking with Track Avenue, a Toronto talent-buying agency that worked with EN Productions to bring Sean Paul to Sault Ste. Marie. 

“They [EN Productions] didn’t even make an announcement on their Facebook - or anything -  that the show was cancelled,” said Major. “That’s how crazy it is.”

“If you go on EN Productions, there’s nothing. Their last post is that Sean Paul is coming.”

EN Productions has since changed its Facebook event listing within the past 24 hours to indicate that the concert has been postponed.