Features
Rain Delay
While wire services, news reports, blogs and Rain fan sites have been clogged with rumors and speculation about the postponement, Pollstar has been sifting through the deluge of conflicting information.
It turns out the primary cause is a lawsuit. The singer, JYP Entertainment and Star M – the Korean company that owns the rights to Rain’s world tour – are all being sued by Rain Corporation, a Nevada company that represents Rain – The Beatles Experience, a fab four tribute band. The suit, a copy of which was obtained by Pollstar, alleges trademark infringement, asks for an injunction and seeks damages plus “three times the profits attributable to the Defendants infringement of the Mark.”Representatives for Rain Corporation were contacted by Pollstar and declined to comment on the suit.
Revolution Entertainment’s John Yi, the promoter responsible for Rain’s shows in Hawaii, Atlanta and New York, said although the decision to postpone was a difficult one, it was necessary.
“We couldn’t take a chance,” Yi told Pollstar. He said with a hearing on the case scheduled for June 14, the timing was too close to be able to fix things if the ruling didn’t come out in Rain’s favor.
“We asked Madison Square Garden whether it was possible to move the dates, and they said it was OK, because they know all of the things that are going on.”
Yi said he’s hoping to reschedule the shows for September or October. He added that fans holding tickets for the postponed shows can either return their tickets for a refund or hold on to them until the shows are rescheduled.
V2B’s Andrew Kim, who is responsible for Rain’s Los Angeles show, said that while the lawsuit was a factor, in the end it wasn’t the only reason.
“It is the lawsuit,” Kim told Pollstar. “But a lawsuit isn’t enough to stop the show, because it’s just a matter of changing the name.”
He said Rain’s Korean team was concerned that it wouldn’t be possible to move the singer’s massive production, created by Roy Bennett, who designed the set for Madonna’s Confessions tour, from city to city quickly enough.
“They were trying to do too many venues for too big a show,” Kim said. “It’s a huge show with a lot of video and a lot of pyrotechnics.
“Although we anticipated that it could be done, in the end, we just felt that the timing would be too close.”
He pulled a show originally planned for San Francisco because he didn’t think it would be possible to move the 18 trucks worth of equipment required for the show to Los Angeles and get everything set up within the three day window he had to do it. “Imagine trying to do that from New York to San Francisco,” he said.
Kim said that Star M also had unrealistic expectations of the kind of cooperation they would get from U.S. venues in setting up for each show.
“The biggest issue wasn’t the ability to get the equipment there,” he said. “It was the fact that, in Asia, you get about a week to set up your show. Here you get less than 24 hours.”
And what about Rain himself? How does he feel about all of this?
Kim, who in addition to his promotion duties, is a friend of the singer, said Rain is disappointed, and if it was up to him he’d be doing all of the scheduled shows.
And in a statement issued to his fans in Korea, Rain apologized for the mess and promised he would make things right.
“Until now, I worked hard on this [world] tour, and I think it was a success so far,” Rain said. “But at the end of the journey, [on the] U.S. tour, we faced a problem with the name issue and some disagreement between promoters. I want to bring it to a successful conclusion.
“Fans shouldn’t suffer in any way because of this. I am deeply stressed over this. I will try to find a way to solve this problem in every aspect for fans.”