Streisand Rome Concert Scrapped

Barbra Streisand’s first concert in Italy has been canceled because of technical problems.

Tour promoter Michael Cohl said the June 15th show at Rome’s Stadio Flaminio had been subject to "unexpected production delays." Cohl announced tickets would be refunded and fans given the chance to buy tickets for one of the other European dates, which are scheduled for Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Sweden, Ireland and the U.K.

The show had already been subject to some adverse media attention as consumer groups including Adusbef and Codacons had complained that ticket prices varying between £100 and £600 were "absurd and shameful."

They reportedly released a written statement saying the city of Rome, which owns the venue, should cancel the concert because fans were being asked to pay too much.

It pointed out that Stadio Flaminio is "public property" and shouldn’t be used for "immoral deals that are shameful to a civilized country."

At press time, it wasn’t possible to get comment from Live Nation Italy, the local promoter, on ticket sales for the 24,000-capacity arena.

The concert was expected to kick off the 65-year-old singer’s European tour, which will now start on June 18th at Zurich Hallenstadion.

The remaining shows, running from the end of June to the end of July, are at Vienna Schoenbrunn, Palais Omnisports in Paris, Berlin Waldbuhne, Stockholm Globe, Manchester Evening News Arena, Dublin’s Castletown House and three nights at The O2 in London.

Tickets for the first O2 show sold out in 20 minutes.