SYRACUSE -- Update:
A concert promoter who the Regional Market has cut ties with says he will be releasing more information about the "procedure for the refund" for people who have tickets for cancelled concerts. Promoter Michael Banks will "not say yes or no" if people will actually get their money back.
There will be no more concerts at the Regional Market in Syracuse this summer. Market officials say they "refuse* to work with the Banks, who puts the shows on.
Bret Michaels was supposed to perform Thursday and he and his band even showed up and greeted fans. Banks told us he couldn't pay the deposit, because he wasn't able to sell enough tickets so the band never took to the stage. Officials at the Regional Market say Banks told them nothing and now they want nothing to do with him.
"It's very unfortunate what happened yesterday," Regional Market Manager Geno Elemos says."Somebody like Michael Banks just ruined it for Syracuse. Hopefully bigger acts such as Bret Michaels will not be hesitant on booking another show here in Syracuse."
Elemos says the Regional Market was completely in the dark that the Bret Michaels show was a no go. The Regional Market just rents out the space for the concerts which just started being held there last year.
Will weekly concerts be held there next summer? Elemos doesn't know for sure. He says he was contacted by six promoters Friday.
Earlier today
Geno Elemos market manager of the Regional Market says the Thursday night concert series has been canceled. Elemos says, “I pretty much told the promoter yesterday that the Regional Market does not want to be associated with a promoter that did what he did yesterday. The promoter lied to us.” He says that Michael Banks did not tell them that yesterday's Bret Michaels concert was canceled, the market had to hear it from news reports. According to Elemos, Banks still owes the Regional Market money from last year and they won’t be doing business with him again.
Banks was at the center of Thursday’s controversy with Bret Michaels. The band claimed they were not given a cent by the promoter, so they packed up and left town. Banks claimed that he gave the band a partial fee. More than 1,500 people who bought tickets are now waiting on refunds that have not been coordinated yet. Bret Michaels says he will come back to do a show in November.
