Lloyd Webber hits out at Fringe box office as tickets go unsold

Published on Tuesday 19 August 2008 10:42

WORLD-RENOWNED cellist Julian Lloyd Webber today joined the condemnation of the Fringe's troubled box office system after scores of tickets for his concert went unsold.

The award-winning musician, brother of composer Andrew, faces performing in front of empty seats after discovering that fewer than half the tickets for the one-off string ensemble concert with the Edinburgh Youth Orchestra (EYO) had been purchased.

He blamed Fringe organisers for the "chaotic" situation, after box office staff apparently told would-be concert-goers the show had sold out. Festival chiefs today admitted there was a "technical fault", but said it had only lasted for around one day.

However, Mr Lloyd Webber said the "hopeless" system was unfair on the young adults performing in their home city, and called for the EYO to receive compensation from the Fringe.

Thursday's concert will be held at Greyfriars Kirk, which relies on the Fringe ticketing system to handle advance sales.

Two other performances, in Stirling and Linlithgow, have sold out, and organisers had expected a sell-out in the Capital, given his crowd-pulling potential.

The EYO, the top orchestra for the city's young classical musicians, said around 270 seats at the near-500 capacity concert were still available, and can now be purchased through the Fringe box office after the mistake was rectified. Tickets may also be available on the night.

Mr Lloyd Webber told the Evening News: "The box office has been telling everyone that it's sold out – and that's if you can get through. It's just hopeless. It's only two days before the event. A lot of people have been phoning up. It's chaotic.

"I feel sorry for the youngsters – there are some really good musicians, and they're in their home city."

Mr Webber said the EYO "deserves" compensation, because "they will have lost a lot of people".

Marjory Dougal, general manager of EYO, added: "We've sold 207 tickets, but we could have sold far more. I do think they should be offering compensation."

Mr Lloyd Webber has received international acclaim for his recordings, and has played with musicians from Elton John to Stphane Grappelli.

He is patron of the EYO, and joins the orchestra for Thursday's performance as director and soloist.

Fringe director Jon Morgan said today: "We were made aware of a problem with Edinburgh Youth Orchestra string ensemble summer concert, which takes place this Thursday, the technical fault was identified and tickets were immediately returned to sale.

"Tickets for the concert were being bought through the Fringe box office on Saturday so we believe the problem only caused difficulties for ticket buyers on Sunday."

The Scottish Government, the Scottish Arts Council and Edinburgh City Council will all be involved in an independent investigation into a string of box office system failures in the run-up to this year's Fringe.