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Amy Promoters May Need A Substitute
Having put her on one of the headline slots at this year’s September 5-7 event on the Isle Of Wight, he has reportedly devised a backup plan in case she didn’t show.
“Regarding Amy, simply, I do not have any more info. I am in contact with her agent and manager and we’ll know what’s happening after the weekend,” he said in a note on his online blog after Winehouse missed her August 29 headline slot at France’s Rock En Seine Festival. “If she can’t do the gig, rest assured I do have a very good backup plan. Have we ever let you down?”
It’s not clear if the plan involves having another act ready from the subs’ bench or juggling the lineup to make up for a no-show.
Winehouse reportedly pulled out of the French festival at two hours notice, and promoter Salomon Hazot and his partners are still considering what action to take. A note on the Rock En Seine Web site said issuing a writ against her is an option.
“How can you have a plan when you don’t know the headliner isn’t going to turn up until it’s two hours before she is due on stage?” he told Pollstar.
The first day of the festival was disappointing but he said the second day with Winehouse headlining was a 25,000-capacity sellout.
Her band, crew and equipment had already arrived at the festival, but she remained in the U.K. Chris Goodman from The Outside Organisation, who looks after Winehouse’s PR, said she missed France because she was ill.
“She’s doing Bestival and then she’ll take a break from work to concentrate on the new album,” he said.
Hazot, who went on stage to tell the crowd Winehouse hadn’t made it to France, put another note on rockenseine.com September 3 detailing how he plans to compensate fans.
Those who paid euro 70 for a two-day ticket or euro 42 to see Winehouse headline the second day will get a euro 18 discount for Rock En Seine 2009.
The August 28-29 event at the Domaine National de Saint-Cloud site near Paris also had R.E.M., Kaiser Chiefs, Tricky, The Raconteurs and Apocalyptica.
Throughout the summer and autumn of 2007, Winehouse missed several festival performances and canceled a U.K. tour, but, until the no-show in Paris, had fulfilled her 2008 live commitments.
This year the 30,000-capacity Bestival, which sold out in record time, also has My Bloody Valentine, Underworld, Aphex Twin, Hot Chip, The Breeders and George Clinton & Funkadelic.