t.A.T.u. are still hoping to give a concert in Riga ("Privata Dzive" - Latvia)Time of publication: 09.07.2003 |
After the t.A.T.u. gigs in the Baltic countries were cancelled, thousands of fans who bought the tickets to the concerts feel being cheated on. To get the t.A.T.u. management’s point of view, Privata Dzive met in Moscow with the concert manager of t.A.T.u.’s Leonid Dzyunik.
Q: After the Eurovision, Russia tried to doubt its low third place, considering that the girls would have got higher number of points.
Leonid: Channel One, Russia, started this campaign. They tried to get in contact with another countries to receive an exact number of votes given by the televoters. At this very moment, this question is of a little interest to us. We don’t discuss it, there are more important questions to work with.
Q: What is the most important for the girls now?
Leonid: To get some rest after a visit to Japan. It was a very busy scheduled tour for us with countless interviews and performances in different TV shows. Now the girls are receiving different awards, as inside Russia so abroad – it’s a sign of appreciation for their hard work. Thus in Japan, where the concerts will take place only this fall, the girls are megastars. Soon there will be a cartoon made, where main heroes will be Lena and Yulia.
Q: Will Japanese fans be facing the same series of disappointment as here in Europe?
Leonid: I think they won’t. Japanese organisers have calculated that all tickets will be sold during a single week. Of course, we have to take into account that many single individuals will take part in the organising process: management, actual organisers, those who are buying the tickets. All those people are sometimes dependant on different human factors.
Q: What kind of human factor was involved into the cancellation of the Riga’s gig?
Leonid: The delay of the gig was connected to the participation in Eurovision. When we negotiated with Pasadena Group Promotion, particularly with Oiar Grasmanis, with whom we had successfully worked before, t.A.T.u. wasn’t that big yet. The number of gigs (one in each Baltic country) and payment conditions were not adequate to the group’s level any more. In fact, this cancellation wasn’t our fault. The idea belonged to Interscope, which works with the girls right now. To their opinion, the girls shouldn’t give three gigs in a row in three very respected but small countries. It could damage their image. Thus I sent a letter to Pasadena Group Promotion on May 14 (3 weeks prior to the planned dates, P.D.) where I notified them about the cancellation and gave the motives and reasons, and where I wrote that we were ready for new negotiations on this matter. During the Eurovision week in Riga such negotiation took actual place. We agreed that instead of three concerts we’d organise a single one but of a larger scale in Riga – a geographic centre of Baltic states. As there is a visa-free entrance between Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the fans wouldn’t have any major troubles to see their idols in the Latvian capital. We agreed on both technical and financial issues. The only question left was about the new dates. I don’t know why but after we had left Riga, this question wasn’t raised any more. At the moment I’m preparing all necessary documentation to return an advance payment to the organisers. I deeply regret that everything turned out this way.
Q: There was information that the organisers could sue the group’s management?
Leonid: In the contract we had clauses where all possible situations had been specified, including cancellations.
Q: In this case, what can you tell to those people who bought the tickets and found themselves in the loser’s position?
Leonid: I can assure you that we want this concert to happen very much. The girls enjoy Riga a lot – we’ve been there 4 times. We have very warm memories about Tallin as well. Vilnus – a bit different story. We don’t have that warm relation with that city. The girls were very upset about the cancellation of the Riga’s gig. I hope that we’ll mange to shake Riga and Riga’s audience with a new show-programme with many special effects. Of course the self-costs of such a show are higher, as it will involve participation of 200-300 invited girls, whose hair is cut and they dressed exactly like their idols – Yulia and Lena. These girls will be always chosen from the hosting the gigs countries. In Japan we received hundreds of answers from young Japanese girls to our proposition.
Q: So what would be your official statement?
Leonid: I, as a concert manager of t.A.T.u., have the following statement – I and Oiar Grasmanis, to whom I feel a deep respect as a professional, had negotiations. To continue our negotiations, I’m ready to come to Riga or to invite Mr. Grasmanis to Moscow. We would like very much to make the concert happen in the country which gave the highest points to t.A.T.u at Eurovision.
P.D. contacted the organisers in Riga as well.
Oiar Grasmanis’ comments (Pasadena Group Promotion):
- It’s interesting to know why the management doesn’t mention the following things in its statements: the group leaders’ problems with voice, tens of cancelled shows in different countries – Poland, England, Israel and finally, new requirements placed in front of the concert organisers. For instance, one of the requirements – 200-300 girls of school age, those are to take care of their own famous t.A.T.u. school outfit. What that is left to do for them on stage is a subject for guessing …
During the Eurovision week we agreed on financial issue: we could manage to provide the necessary payment – $100,000, which is 8 times more that the initial payment. Neformat promised to send a new contract, right after Eurovision, which has not been received by us. There’s no surprise that our sponsors refused to conduct any further negotiations regarding the concert. We’ve been working with the concert’s promotion for the past 8 months and the expenses connected to it are too high – they can’t possibly be covered by the hypothetic profit from the concert. As a matter of fact, I don’t consider the organisation of the concert to be reasonable any more. I think that when t.A.T.u. won’t present any popular band out of themselves any more, we’ll learn many delicate details about internal conflicts and disagreements inside this group. I think, it’s the real reason of a whole number of cancellations of the t.A.T.u. concerts.
Source: Privata Dzive, Latvia
Translation by: oblakovshtanah and TatySite.net Team |
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