14 DAY TRIAL // At the beginning of the week, the local media in Romania started to run ads for an AC/DC concert, which was supposedly taking place at the end of May as part of a two-day rock festival. More than 8,000 tickets were sold in just a couple of days but, as it turns out, the legendary rock band had not even been told it was supposed to travel to Romania and perform, since it was all just an elaborated scam on part of the organizers.
Word got out in the media that there was something off about the event when the organizers, PlayCool (which had been set up just a month before the much mediated concert), had vanished into thin air. The rockers were then contacted, and it was confirmed that the entire thing had been an extremely elaborate scam, which could have netted the faux organizers an estimated 3 million Euro, reports in the Romanian media claim.
Instead, the two men who set up PlayCool and are now hiding in Israel, according to reports, walked away with only 10,000 Euro, since the money from the sold tickets had not yet been transferred to their account when news broke. Fans of the band are understandably outraged and shocked, as also are the Romanian bands that were featured in the ads (including radio promos, TV spots and billboards), since the entire rock festival has been altogether “postponed” indeterminately.
“Promoters in Bucharest, Romania have been falsely advertising AC/DC as the headliner for their 2 day Bucharest Rock Arena festival happening on May 30 and 31, 2009.” AC/DC writes in a post on the official webpage, warning fans about the fake ads and concert. “Tickets for this event have been available online as well as various retail outlets in Bucharest. AC/DC’s Black Ice World Tour is sweeping through Europe where the band is headlining the 02 Arena in London tonight, as well as April 16, 2009. AC/DC fans are encouraged to visit the ACDC.com tickets page for a list of all sanctioned concerts. AC/DC will complete another 20 European dates before returning to the U.S. for a tour which kicks off on July 28 in Foxborough, MA.” the post further reads.
As of now, many fans in Romania are still not aware that the tickets they paid $30 to $250 for are completely useless, various sources say. However, they need not worry about losing their money, since refunds are already being made, One Event, the Romanian organizer in charge of the local bands’ participation at the festival, informs.