TWO CARIBANA WEEK-END EVENTS CANCELLED AT LAST MOMENT - DRAKE AND FOODFEST

 The Cancellation Virus Hits Toronto AGAIN 

In Time For Caribana Weekend

These days buying a ticket to an event does not guarantee that you will get to go to the event. And, when a concert or show is postponed, you might not get your ticket refunded as quickly as you might expect.

 

The event scene in Toronto and many other major cities in Canada and the US has been hit by two nasty trends since Covid. Ticket prices have gone up and more and more ticketed events are getting cancelled – usually with little warning.

 

This summer alone in Toronto concerts by Justin Bieber, the Weeknd and New Kids On the Block have been postponed or outright cancelled. Bieber pulled out of a June concert because of illness, the Weeknd cancelled when the Rogers network collapsed, Mendes pulled the plug on a few days before and New Kids on the Block gave a week's notice they were not going to perform in Toronto.

 

This past long weekend two significant events slated for the Exhibition Place and Ontario Place’s Budweiser stage were cancelled/postponed on hours before they were to take place. Drakes’ concert scheduled for last Monday at the Budweiser stage, was to be the third Drake event planned for this past weekend. Drake was quoted by the press on Monday morning of that he was cancelling that evening’s Young Money Reunion concert featuring Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj because he had just tested positive for COVID.

The concert had been announced only two weeks before and sold out almost immediately even though tickets were priced in the thousands of dollars. Many fans learned about the cancellation through Drake’s Instagram account, while others heard about the postponement on their way to the lakeside outdoor concert hall.

Another weekend event, albeit, not on the size or scope as the OVO concert, also had its plug pulled. The All-New Sunday Carnival Flavours had been planning to hold a food festival at the Stanley Barracks, (Hotel X on the grounds of Exhibition Place). It was to feature food and drinks from many different Caribbean islands and their local communities in the GTA

 

Carnival Flavours was the last official Toronto Caribana Carnival weekend event. Little apparent effort was made to reach out to ticket holders and tourists interested in buying tickets for this “Cool Down” event.  The message sent out by that morning was short and not-so sweet  “Carnival Flavours is postponed this afternoon in order to celebrate Trinidad and Tobago's 60th Independence with a free event on August 27 and 28 at Yonge Dundas Square.”

 

This writer received emails criticizing the Festival Management Committee for pulling the plug on the event. “On such short notice,” posted one Toronto resident. “Couldn't this have been announced earlier in the week?”.

The Canadian Press reported on this epidemic of cancellations and price hikes in a national story following the Ovo shutdown.

“Postponements and cancellations are nothing new in the concert industry,” writes CP.  “ But as ticket prices spike, the cost of gas and food soar from inflation, and promoters work hard to get people back in venues, some fans say one negative experience could affect whether they consider going to another show any time soon, especially one outside their home city.”

A week after this article appeared in the Caribbean Camera newspaper the rescheduled Drake Ovo concert took place, albeit 3 hours late starting. Oh well. the weather was perfect for liming on the grass waiting for the Ontario Place show to start.