A NICOSIA nightclub said yesterday it was a taking legal action to recover a £13,000 advance from a top Greek singer who cancelled a performance at the eleventh hour, claiming the facilities weren’t up to scratch.
The concert by Giorgos Alkaios and Dionysis Skinos had been scheduled for last night, but was cancelled at the last minute.
It was to be held at The Gate, a new Nicosia nightclub on Salaminos Avenue, but was called off on Tuesday morning after Alkaios refused to perform, saying the club’s technical system did not meet his demands, one of the Club’s owners Christoforos Christoforou said yesterday.
“As far as the club is concerned,” Christoforou said, “the cancellation is entirely Mr. Alkaios’ fault. We made all the necessary arrangements within the club to meet his demands; he even had his local manager, Demetris Charalambides, study the space provided, his sound technicians checked everything out and the concert was given the go-ahead.
“Then, on Tuesday morning, the singer himself flew into Cyprus, visited the club, and said he refused to perform the following night as planned due to technical problems.”
But Alkaios had not returned the £13,000 advance the club had given him 20 days ago, Christoforou claimed.
He said the club had now started legal proceedings, both in Cyprus and in Greece, in an effort to get their money back and to cover the cost of preparations for the concert.
“I have paid Mr. Alkaios, but he is denying it,” he said. “I asked that he be stopped at the airport by immigration on Tuesday so that we could get our money back, and it turns out he was very offended and claimed we had never paid him in the first place. In the meantime, his manager said we would have our money returned by 6pm on Tuesday, but we have had no word from him since and now we cannot find him.”
“I find his attitude completely unprofessional. A serious artist examines a place technically before the last minute,” he said.
“Obviously Mr. Alkaios is a bigger prima donna than I’d thought, and only Wembley Stadium is good enough for him,” Christoforou said, adding The Gate was the largest club in Cyprus and far bigger than any of the venues he was used to performing in at home. Despite this, Alkaios insisted on a 10-meter stage for him and his band, Christoforou added.
He said the club had sold 500 tickets for the concert, and that all the money would be reimbursed. Tickets had cost £25 for table seating and £15 for standing places.
But the artists’ fees were not the only expense the club had incurred.
“The changes we made to the club in preparation of this night were very costly and I don’t know who is going to pay for that.”
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
