Mariah emancipated from Hong Kong date
Hong Kong? Phooey. Just two days before Mariah Carey was due to perform a one-off gig in the Chinese city, concert promoters have called off the event, citing low ticket sales and "unreasonable demands" from the Grammy winner as their reasons for the abrupt cancellation. Concerts Asia was responsible for booking - and scuttling - the gig.
"As promoters of the Mariah Carey Hong Kong concert, we have decided to cancel the event effective immediately due to both the poor response of public ticket sales and also due to specific last-minute demands which we find wholly unreasonable and not with the best interests of Hong Kong, us and also the fans," Concerts Asia said in a statement on their Website.
Unfortunately, Concerts Asia is remaining mum on the nature of Carey's so-called outrageous requests, but a quick glance at one of the singer's older concert contracts, excerpted on the Smoking Gun, suggests there are several possibilities:
Maybe there was something in the (bottled) water: Carey has made mention that 16-ounce bottles of Evian are the only "acceptable" bottles of water in her dressing room, though for her requisite eight-person tea service, Poland Springs will suffice.
A four-hour lunch service must commence no more than five hours after her crew has loaded in, and a four-hour dinner service must begin six hours after that. The latter must serve 100 people and feature at least one hot soup - obviously, different from the one prepared for lunch. Mimi & Co don't do leftovers.
To ward off any would-be parching, she also requires copious amounts of beverages in her dressing room, including a bottle of Cristal, two bottles of Camus white wine, tea, milk, seltzer and very fine apple juice, none of which will be downed without the use of "bendy straws".
In the few moments she has left after eating and drinking her way to showtime, Carey also demands the presence of a large vanity mirror, one director's chair and no fewer than - or greater than, for that matter - 12 fluffy bath towels. Not too much to ask.
Then again, had there been sufficient clamoring for tickets, the promoter may have caved in to Carey's fluffy towels, bendy straws or whatever. As it is, Concerts Asia reports that only 4,000 tickets were sold for the Saturday gig, despite the presumed international popularity of Carey and "a substantial advertising campaign". The outdoor Tamar Site venue has the capacity to hold up to 13,000 concert-goers.
While Concerts Asia claims that they were the ones to put the kibosh on the gig, which would have been Carey's first time ever performing in Hong Kong, Carey's camp, naturally, sees it another way, insisting it was the promoter's inability to accommodate her more than reasonable requests (after all, no one wants substandard apple juice), which resulted in her nixing the concert.
"Due to unfulfilled contractual obligations by concert organizers, Mariah Carey has been obliged to cancel her forthcoming concert in Hong Kong," the Universal Music Group said in a statement. "With legions of fans in Hong Kong and South East Asia, Mariah has always appreciated the love and dedication they have shown over the years. She deeply regrets the disappointment caused to them due to unforeseen circumstances beyond her control."
With her newly acquired free time, whether voluntary or not, Carey will likely head back into the studio. She has a new album slated for release in 2007. (E! Online)
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