ELTON’S MIAMI STOP IS POSTPONED,
Elton John is “still standing” and maybe “even better” than he ever was.
That’s what critics of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour have been saying.
But even pop’s Rocket Man can’t soar during the coronavirus pandemic.
On Thursday, Elton’s team announced another batch of postponed North American dates, including Miami’s May 30 date scheduled for downtown’s AmericanAirlines Arena.
In usual times this would mean you hold on to your ticket for the rescheduled date but Ticketmaster would generally not give you a refund. Ticketmaster’s policy was to refund only if a show was canceled.
But there’s been a backlash over that policy. Millions nationwide are out of work. And even the very existence of arena concerts in the future is still cloudy as many people say they plan to avoid being around big crowds until there is a vaccine.
So, Ticketmaster has had to change its refund policy.
Ticketmaster, a Live Nation subsidiary, now assures its customers that it will issue refunds for the tens of thousands of events affected by the coronavirus pandemic — and that includes both postponed and canceled shows, Business Insider reports.
Some members of Congress — including Rep. William Pascrell, D-N.J., and Katherine Porter, D-Calif. — wrote letters to the ticket giant earlier this month demanding changes in its refund policy, Business Insider reported.
Ticketmaster President Jared Smith, in a letter to Pascrell and Porter and posted publicly, said the company “intends to refund as many tickets as possible in as timely a fashion as is feasible. We are working every day towards that goal.”
Smith said 30,000 events — including concert tours like Elton John’s, Broadway and sporting events — have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic nationwide.
“Neither our clients, nor Ticketmaster, intend to withhold refunds on postponed shows,” Smith said in his letter on April 17. “In fact, as of today, both Live Nation Entertainment and AEG Live, two of our largest event organizers, have announced they will begin to provide refunds, on a rolling basis, for all events impacted by COVID-19.”
HOW TO GET REFUNDS
In the case of something like Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour in Miami, you can do a couple of things.
You can hold on to your tickets as they will be honored at a newly scheduled date, which has not been announced yet but will most likely be in 2021, according to the musician’s publicist at Rogers & Cowan.
All 24 dates Elton had from a May 22 stop in Columbia, South Carolina, to a July 8 show in Kansas City,
Missouri, were postponed Thursday. These are the remainder of his 2020 North American dates on the three-year-long tour and many were return visits to cities he has played before — including Miami’s concert.
“Elton promises to continue performing live for all his dedicated fans around the world again and thanks you for your endless support,” Captain Fantastic’s team said in a statement.
If you don’t think you can make it in 2021, for whatever reason, and prefer a refund, you can contact Ticketmaster.com. Follow the instructions on the site’s refund/postponed page or go to your Ticketmaster Account page where you should find the option to request a refund.
Ticketmaster’s parent company, Live Nation, recently announced it would give ticket holders 30 days to request a refund once one of the postponed shows sets a new date, USA Today reported. The new policy begins May 1 and includes an option to receive credit to use on future tickets or to donate tickets to healthcare workers.
AEG Presents announced a similar 30-day refund program, also starting May 1, USA Today reported.
Or, as before, you can also opt to sell your tickets through a resale site, Ticketmaster said.
The policy hasn’t changed regarding canceled shows. Those were, and will remain, automatically refunded.