The Trinidadian party promoters are begging their country’s officials to not let Beyonce come to perform a concert right after Carnival. All because she is too good. Apparently officials are taking resources from Carnival in order to accommodate Beyonce’s huge concert, and the promoters aren’t feelin’ it. At least not at this particular time:
’We want to discuss with TSTT the position they have taken to present Beyonce in concert so soon after Carnival and their decision to cut back and even pull sponsorship of Carnival events. We understand they have also cancelled the B-Square concert series at Woodford Square for this year. TSTT has contributed greatly to Carnival over the years and this is a surprise move. We want to know what their commitment to Carnival is,’ Fernandes said.
Fernandes also said he believes that the production cost of $10 million for the concert as quoted in the media to be lower than what the actual cost for such an event should be. Fernandes explained that it costs that much to produce the Soca Monarch final, which he did since the competition’s inception. So that when one adds Beyonce’s contract rider (expenses and other requests) and the cost to prepare the venue for the concert one is looking at a final cost of possibly $30 million, he added.
’They will need to prepare the venue to accommodate the 25,000-plus audience, they need to break even and when you take into consideration what may be on Beyonce’s rider, that can be an additional three quarter million or more,’ he added.
’We have nothing against Beyonce. We are just saying that it is insensitive to bring her at this time. It will affect all Carnival stakeholders because you know it’s not just a case of people forgoing fetes and shows to buy tickets. What about those who depend on Carnival to earn income? No patrons at events or no events mean that all service providers are out of a dollar. And what about the artistes that all came out in defence of bmobile when Digicel came into Trinidad? As a corporation of which 51 per cent is Government-owned, TSTT needs to provide answers to the cultural fraternity,’ Fernandes said.
Our Trinidadian readers have been emailing us saying it is a huge uproar and bruhaha going on about this right now with the local Trinis. Drama.
