Prince’s Benefit Mess

A pricey Prince benefit concert near Dallas just days before the Super Bowl was canceled last minute with organizers sending mixed messages up through the afternoon of the show.

Organizers pulled the plug on TheEvent, which was to feature his Purpleness and Erykah Badu in a $1,500-per-ticket concert for George Michael’s Goss-Michael arts foundation, Feb. 4.

“It is our understanding that River Alexander Group, the event organizer, was unable to fund and produce the evening,” the foundation said in a statement. “The organizer came to the Goss-Michael Foundation, invited us to be the beneficiary and receive some of the proceeds which would have gone to our high school scholarship program.”

But right after that announcement was released, a show representative told the local Pegasus News there had been some miscommunication and the concert was still on.

“It is not canceled,” Scott Lonski said. “There was a premature announcement and some information went out that was incorrect.”
A later statement from Prince’s manager proved otherwise.

“Our understanding is that they lost their investors and were not able to adequately fund and produce the event,” Kiran Sharma told the New York Post. “Prince was looking forward to performing in support of the Goss-Michael Foundation.”

River Alexander Group’s Chris Arnold told the local WFAA news his organization faced money and weather issues in the leadup to the event.

Unfortunately, with all the back-and-forth, organizers forgot to alert a group of scholarship students who were scheduled to take the stage with Prince during the show.

Violinist Scarlett Deering told WFAA she waited in a hotel room for nearly two hours with no word from organizers that the show was off.

“I was very angry and upset, and I felt like it wasn’t fair that no one ever came and told us what was going on,” Deering said.
The foundation announced it will reimburse the students for expenses related to the show and refunds for ticketholders were offered at point of purchase.