1 Mar 2009

Lionel Richie concert-goers will get refund

4:58 pm on 1 March 2009

Organisers of the Lionel Richie concert that had to be abandoned due to torrential rain in Hawke's Bay on Saturday say they suffered a loss of about $3.5 million but tickets will be fully refunded.

The concert headlined by the American singer at Mission Estate got under way in the afternoon but was called off because of the weather before Richie took the stage.

Event director Garry Craft says it was jointly decided by the promoters, the estate's management, police and St John Ambulance staff that the event could not continue safely.

He said the audience had spent some hours at the venue and had endured unbelievably bad weather conditions.

"They took it extremely well and I think they fully understood that the grounds were just too dangerous for everyone to continue," he said.

He said the 18,000 thousand concert-goers will get full refunds and the organisers will claim a $3.5m loss from insurers.