The four METALLICA members took part in a press conference on Friday, October 28 ahead of their canceled F1 Rocks India concert in Delhi, India. Video footage of the question-and-answer session can be seen below. Source: Blabbermouth.net

According to NDTV, the organizers of METALLICA‘s concerts in India have been arrested after the band’s show scheduled for Friday evening in Gurgaon (a suburb of Delhi) was canceled. The operational head of DNA Entertainment Network, Rajesh Chandwani, and his team members — Umesh, Ashok Singh and Savio Faleio — were charged with cheating people and breach of trust under section 406 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code, Station House Officer Jagdish Prasad said.

The police allege that the organizers oversold Friday’s concert beyond its 25,000 capacity at the Leisure Valley Park in Gurgaon’s Sector 29 and that the authorities were never informed before the cancelation was announced.

The organizers have said all ticket holders will be refunded. They said full-page advertisements on refunds will be put out in the next 24 hours explaining all the details.

“As soon as the organizers announced that the show has been postponed, the crowd went berserk… people started pushing each other, broke barricades, started shouting and throwing water bottles,” Pankaj Kaushik, who waited for three hours for the show to begin, told The Economic Times.

The announcement of the concert’s postponement was met with anger, apparently in part because the four members of METALLICA were taking part in a press conference at the time (see video below). Fans rushed the stage, damaged equipment and some even attempted to set fire to banners. Most of the fans, however, stayed calm and exited the venue when asked.

A number of fans — including Kapel Vahi and John Thangaraj — were reportedly sent confirmation emails stating that tickets would be delivered to them by October 25 which did not happen. Thangaraj told Mumbai Mirror, “Kapel and I bought our tickets on October 14. The company reverted with a confirmation email. According to the email, we were supposed to receive our tickets latest by October 25. After the deadline, we mailed, called all the numbers listed on the website. We did not get any reply. We then read on the web site that if we did not receive the tickets, we could pick them up at the venue.”

According to The Times Of India, Vahi, who flew down from Mumbai for the concert, waited in line at the ticket counter with Thangaraj for two hours, only to be told that his tickets had been dispatched to his home address. Thangaraj said, “We spoke to a man, who said his name was Rajesh and that he was the owner of DNA Network. When we told him about what had happened and that we would take legal action, he called us frauds and threatened to have us arrested.”

METALLICA‘s concert in Gurgaon was to have kicked off the F1 Rocks festivities accompanying this weekend’s inaugural Indian Grand Prix.

“Every conceivable effort had been made for the concert to go ahead today but, in view of public safety, and in consultation with the event organizer DNA Entertainment Network and representatives from METALLICA, the decision was made to cancel the show,” F1 Rocks said in a statement, “We would like to offer our sincerest apologies to the many enthusiastic fans who were looking forward to watch a great band perform.”

“The METALLICA concert has become yet another example of chaos and mismanagement in organising events in India,” Dow Jones Newswire‘s Santanu Choudhury wrote, referring to another concert, featuring Canada’s Bryan Adams, which was also canceled recently.

Tickets to the show were priced between Rs.1,650 and Rs.2,750 (between $34 and $57), and had drawn in fans from several cities like Kerala, Mumbai, Manipur, Kolkata, Jaipur and countries like Bangladesh, China, Nepal, Indonesia and Singapore.

METALLICA is scheduled to perform in the southern Indian city of Bangalore on Sunday.

Video footage of METALLICA‘s press conference in India can be seen below. Source: Blabbermouth.net

METALLICA has released the following statement:

“We arrived in Delhi on Friday very excited and ready to play our first show ever in India at the F1 Rocks concert. However, immediately at the end of our afternoon press conference at a hotel near the venue, we were notified that there was a serious question as to whether the show could proceed with regard to the safety of the concert audience. And our first and foremost concern is always for the safety of you, the fans.

“Once we, along with DNA, the promoters of the show, determined that there was a failure of a security barricade in front of the stage that could not be adequately repaired, the promoter reluctantly announced the postponement of the show until Saturday. Unfortunately, on such short notice the promoters were unable to secure a permit for a show on Saturday. Therefore, DNA announced that we would not be able to play in Delhi. Within the next 24 hours a notification will be issued by DNA regarding the process for full refunds.

“We are deeply disappointed with this news as we were looking forward to our first experience in India as much as you guys were. Keep watching here for updates [on the official METALLICA web site] as additional details are determined and confirmed.”

According to NDTV, crowds started lining up at about 3 p.m.today, with 25,000 fans having purchased tickets to tonight’s concert. Several announcements were reportedly made throughout the afternoon requesting people to move back because the barrier in front of the stage was giving way. The crowd got increasingly more restive with every such announcement, objecting and booing.

After the announcement that the concert had been canceled, angry fans tried to damage equipment near the stage; some tried to set fire to banners near the stage. Others hurled plastic 10-litre bottles of water onto the stage.

METALLICA is scheduled to perform in Bangalore on Sunday. Source: Blabbermouth.net

METALLICA‘s first-ever concert in India, which was scheduled to take place tonight (Friday, October 28), in Gurgaon has been postponed until tomorrow evening as a result of technical issues.

“Due to some technical problems we are postponing the METALLICA concert to tomorrow,” organizers said.

“The organizers have informed the police that due to technical reasons they are postponing the concert,” said Gurgaon police commissioner SS Deshwal.

“They have to explain why they cancelled it,” he added.

“They have not told anything to us,” he said. But he maintained that people who came for the event were dispersing calmly and that “everything was under control.”

“The organisers have to say why they cancelled (the show). They have to explain. They have cancelled it without taking the district administration into confidence.”

According to IBNLive.com, fans had already gathered in large numbers at the Leisure Valley in Gurgaon today for the concert scheduled to begin at 7:30. After the news of postponement was announced on stage, disappointed fans tried to sabotage the venue. They broke barriers, climbed on stage and tore posters.

“It is so disappointing. I have been standing in the line for two hours and then the organisers just announce that it has been postponed to tomorrow because of some technical difficulties,” said Ramnik, a fan at the venue. Another fan Karan, who had come all the way from Mumbai, said, “I am very disappointed that the concert has been cancelled. I came all the way from Mumbai to see the concert. I have been standing for almost 2 hours now and have just been told that it has been postponed. No organizer has made any official statement if our tickets will be reimbursed or not.”

According to RadioAndMusic.com, MTV India will broadcast METALLICA‘s first-ever concert in India. The channel, in association with F1 Rocks, will telecast the one-hour special of historic METALLICA performance one week after the live event.

MTV India channel head Aditya Swamy said, “MTV reaches approximately 130 million people across 40 million homes and it’s a huge thing for MTV to broadcast the most awaited concert in India in association with F1 Rocks. METALLICA concert will boost the Indian economy as international acts tend to do well in the live-music circuit in an emerging economy like India.” Source: Blabbermouth.net