Postponements and cancellations all around…
It’s been a bad 2 weeks for South African pop culture junkies. Well, more specifically, last week was bad, with cancellations and postponements coming thick and fast.
First up, any South Africans who had pre-ordered the collector's edition of World of WarCraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King from local online retailer Take 2 (the only local company apparently offering the CE), received the following email:
Our supplier has informed us that they will no longer be bringing in the World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Expansion Pack Collector's Edition (PC)into SA. As a result we have now cancelled your pre-order.
We have not charged you for the order.
The Standard Edition World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Expansion Pack (PC) is still available to pre-order. See the link below:
http://www.take2.co.za/games-world-o...c-2670934.html
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience and you are welcome to contact us if you require any information or assistance.
You see, from what I've been able to gather, the collector's edition of Wrath of the Lich King will only be available in "select areas" - that's according to the official announcement halfway down this Blizzard webpage. Those "select areas" do not include South Africa... or, surprisingly, much of Eastern Europe and Russia, where WOW has a fanatical following.
So, of course, I'm quite annoyed that I won't be getting my paws on this very sweet package, especially since I missed the excitement when the last expansion, Burning Crusade was launched. I really wanted the artwork book, soundtrack and map mousepad this time.
There is some slight consolation though. Even people in the UK - no doubt a "select area" - are struggling to place their pre-orders for the collector's edition. No one, not even Amazon seems capable of guaranteeing a copy. The joke is that getting hold of a Wrath collector's edition will be on par with landing an in-game item that has a 0.001% drop rate.
Frankly I don't think Blizzard has managed the launch of Wrath of the Lich King especially well. There is a lot of confusion out there about when things will be available. And as for the collector's edition, Blizzard could have made a helluva lot more money if they'd actually taken a minute to think of massive fan demand. There are hundreds of thousands of WOW players out there, myself included, who are willing to pay practically DOUBLE the standard edition's price, just to secure the much more comprehensive and exciting collector's edition.
However, I'm certainly not bothering anymore. It's Blizzard's loss...
Moving on, controversial metal band DevilDriver has just cancelled... oh, sorry, postponed... their first ever tour of South Africa. They were due to perform at Oppidam in Gauteng on 1 November, Burn Nightclub in Durban this Friday (7 November) and the Bellville Velodrome in Cape Town on 8 November. I was never going myself - DevilDriver is a bit heavy for my tastes - but I know people who were, and they're understandably disappointed by the postponement.
Apparently the postponement stems from the fact that, at very short notice, Oppidam decided to withdraw as the Gauteng venue. This was because they had come under pressure from conservative Christian groups who were concerned about a "satanic" music festival coming to their area. Even shifting The Metal Fest to Alberton was not good enough to save it.
Thornrose Productions, the company bringing DevilDriver to South Africa, quickly released a statement on the matter. You can read the press release in full on the Thornrose website, but here's an extract:
We had options of cancelling one or two of the events and focusing all our energies on one, obviously having repercussions of offending fans. We were left having to scramble for a venue for our main event with 9 days to spare; an event such as this required the time to put all our energies into making this the best event in our genre yet.
We were not willing to compromise on anything as we did not want to charge fans for something less than extraordinary and did not want to bring an International band to a show that was haphazardly thrown together.
Oppidam would have been that perfect venue, the one that impressed all, what with all the time and effort and planning that went into our main festival. Having that destroyed almost within 1 week of an International arrival is enough to throw everything out of sync.
Unlike the rumours that have cast their ugly seed into the hearts of fans, we will not disappoint and would like to categorically state that we have simply postponed the event and not cancelled it.
Unfortunately I can't confirm what's happening at Burn Nightclub this Friday because their website has been down all week. DevilDriver was supposed to be just one act performing during a whole evening of metal bands. But who really cares now anyway?
Speaking of not caring, the first ever South African Virgin Festival, which was announced back in early September, and all set for Johannesburg and Cape Town in December, has also just been postponed until sometime in 2009.
Navigating the new, and still user-unfriendly, 5FM website, I came across the following statement:
Virgin Festival - due to have taken place in December this year, has been postponed to early next year. This has been done in order to secure the huge international line-up more in line with what Virgin Festival stands for throughout the world - a line-up to make South Africans proud.
Virgin Mobile CEO Peter Boyd says four out of five of some of the hottest bands to ever grace SA shores are on track, but Virgin Moblie is still not entirely satisfied with the international line-up. “Some of the bands that South Africans kept asking for were simply not available at that time of the year.”
Here's another, more objective article on the postponement.
Anyway, I agree with the organisers in regards to the standard of artists set to perform - the V Fest line-up was very weak: Sugababes, Snoop Dogg, Maroon 5, One Republic, Eddy Grant as the Internationals, and the Parlotones, Jozi, Dirty Skirts, Goldfish, and Zebra and Giraffe as the Locals. Snore... That's certainly not a combination of artists to fork out between R325 and R600 for.
Besides, for R218-R370, you can now still see Maroon 5, One Republic, The Parlotones & Goldfish in December: At the Coca-Cola Dome in Johannesburg on 13 December, at the ICC in DURBAN (whoowhee, we got a mini-festival!) on 14 December, and at Grandwest in Cape Town on 17 December.
As a final note, I'm unconvinced that both the Virgin Festival and DevilDriver tour are still going to happen. Too many times have international bands pulled out of performing here, promising they will be back. It NEVER happens.
I'm sure I'm not alone here when I say I've pretty much reached the point where I won't support these kind of big events - especially if, as a non-capetonian or Joburger, I have to sort out flights, accommodation and car hire months in advance to attend. I've heard of several people who have been severely burnt by the V-Fest postponement.
So forget it. From now on I'm viewing any concert or music festival announcement with the highest level of cynicism. Bah humbug!
First up, any South Africans who had pre-ordered the collector's edition of World of WarCraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King from local online retailer Take 2 (the only local company apparently offering the CE), received the following email:
Our supplier has informed us that they will no longer be bringing in the World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Expansion Pack Collector's Edition (PC)into SA. As a result we have now cancelled your pre-order.
We have not charged you for the order.
The Standard Edition World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Expansion Pack (PC) is still available to pre-order. See the link below:
http://www.take2.co.za/games-world-o...c-2670934.html
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience and you are welcome to contact us if you require any information or assistance.
You see, from what I've been able to gather, the collector's edition of Wrath of the Lich King will only be available in "select areas" - that's according to the official announcement halfway down this Blizzard webpage. Those "select areas" do not include South Africa... or, surprisingly, much of Eastern Europe and Russia, where WOW has a fanatical following.
So, of course, I'm quite annoyed that I won't be getting my paws on this very sweet package, especially since I missed the excitement when the last expansion, Burning Crusade was launched. I really wanted the artwork book, soundtrack and map mousepad this time.
There is some slight consolation though. Even people in the UK - no doubt a "select area" - are struggling to place their pre-orders for the collector's edition. No one, not even Amazon seems capable of guaranteeing a copy. The joke is that getting hold of a Wrath collector's edition will be on par with landing an in-game item that has a 0.001% drop rate.
Frankly I don't think Blizzard has managed the launch of Wrath of the Lich King especially well. There is a lot of confusion out there about when things will be available. And as for the collector's edition, Blizzard could have made a helluva lot more money if they'd actually taken a minute to think of massive fan demand. There are hundreds of thousands of WOW players out there, myself included, who are willing to pay practically DOUBLE the standard edition's price, just to secure the much more comprehensive and exciting collector's edition.
However, I'm certainly not bothering anymore. It's Blizzard's loss...
Moving on, controversial metal band DevilDriver has just cancelled... oh, sorry, postponed... their first ever tour of South Africa. They were due to perform at Oppidam in Gauteng on 1 November, Burn Nightclub in Durban this Friday (7 November) and the Bellville Velodrome in Cape Town on 8 November. I was never going myself - DevilDriver is a bit heavy for my tastes - but I know people who were, and they're understandably disappointed by the postponement.
Apparently the postponement stems from the fact that, at very short notice, Oppidam decided to withdraw as the Gauteng venue. This was because they had come under pressure from conservative Christian groups who were concerned about a "satanic" music festival coming to their area. Even shifting The Metal Fest to Alberton was not good enough to save it.
Thornrose Productions, the company bringing DevilDriver to South Africa, quickly released a statement on the matter. You can read the press release in full on the Thornrose website, but here's an extract:
We had options of cancelling one or two of the events and focusing all our energies on one, obviously having repercussions of offending fans. We were left having to scramble for a venue for our main event with 9 days to spare; an event such as this required the time to put all our energies into making this the best event in our genre yet.
We were not willing to compromise on anything as we did not want to charge fans for something less than extraordinary and did not want to bring an International band to a show that was haphazardly thrown together.
Oppidam would have been that perfect venue, the one that impressed all, what with all the time and effort and planning that went into our main festival. Having that destroyed almost within 1 week of an International arrival is enough to throw everything out of sync.
Unlike the rumours that have cast their ugly seed into the hearts of fans, we will not disappoint and would like to categorically state that we have simply postponed the event and not cancelled it.
Unfortunately I can't confirm what's happening at Burn Nightclub this Friday because their website has been down all week. DevilDriver was supposed to be just one act performing during a whole evening of metal bands. But who really cares now anyway?
Speaking of not caring, the first ever South African Virgin Festival, which was announced back in early September, and all set for Johannesburg and Cape Town in December, has also just been postponed until sometime in 2009.
Navigating the new, and still user-unfriendly, 5FM website, I came across the following statement:
Virgin Festival - due to have taken place in December this year, has been postponed to early next year. This has been done in order to secure the huge international line-up more in line with what Virgin Festival stands for throughout the world - a line-up to make South Africans proud.
Virgin Mobile CEO Peter Boyd says four out of five of some of the hottest bands to ever grace SA shores are on track, but Virgin Moblie is still not entirely satisfied with the international line-up. “Some of the bands that South Africans kept asking for were simply not available at that time of the year.”
Here's another, more objective article on the postponement.
Anyway, I agree with the organisers in regards to the standard of artists set to perform - the V Fest line-up was very weak: Sugababes, Snoop Dogg, Maroon 5, One Republic, Eddy Grant as the Internationals, and the Parlotones, Jozi, Dirty Skirts, Goldfish, and Zebra and Giraffe as the Locals. Snore... That's certainly not a combination of artists to fork out between R325 and R600 for.
Besides, for R218-R370, you can now still see Maroon 5, One Republic, The Parlotones & Goldfish in December: At the Coca-Cola Dome in Johannesburg on 13 December, at the ICC in DURBAN (whoowhee, we got a mini-festival!) on 14 December, and at Grandwest in Cape Town on 17 December.
As a final note, I'm unconvinced that both the Virgin Festival and DevilDriver tour are still going to happen. Too many times have international bands pulled out of performing here, promising they will be back. It NEVER happens.
I'm sure I'm not alone here when I say I've pretty much reached the point where I won't support these kind of big events - especially if, as a non-capetonian or Joburger, I have to sort out flights, accommodation and car hire months in advance to attend. I've heard of several people who have been severely burnt by the V-Fest postponement.
So forget it. From now on I'm viewing any concert or music festival announcement with the highest level of cynicism. Bah humbug!
Comments
Sometimes dating across the language border has some painful consequences! :)
And Lord Spaceman, yeah, we always get dumped when international acts are suddenly "tired" or "unavailable". We're clearly not worth their while. And when they are super keen to come here, tour management on our side seems to regularly stuff things up.