$1,400 on Justin Bieber tickets: Fan says she's still going ahead with her KL trip despite concert cancellation

Is it too late now to say sorry?

Pop star Justin Bieber might have a lot to apologise for after the announcement yesterday (Oct 7) that he is postponing the rest of his Justice world tour, including the Singapore concert on Oct 25.

For local fan Valerie Chan, the news came as a huge disappointment but she told AsiaOne that she was already expecting it.

"After all, Justin has had a history of cancelling the Asian leg of tours — for example, the Purpose Tour back in like 2017," said the 22-year-old.

Additionally, in early September, the Canadian singer pulled the plug on the European leg of his tour in order to focus on his health.

The 28-year-old said in a statement: "I performed six live shows, but it took a real toll on me... After getting off stage, the exhaustion overtook me and I realised that I needed to make my health a priority right now. So I'm going to take a break from touring for the time being."

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Chan, who works in public relations, shared: "I think by the time he released news of the postponement for Europe, I was mentally prepared for the Asian leg [of the tour] to be postponed, too. It just didn't make sense that he was able to heal that quickly?

"I was mostly annoyed by the lack of transparency and stringing fans along — false hopes per se — with no answers despite fans asking for a definitive answer."

In a social media post yesterday, concert promoter Unusual Entertainment announced that the tour will be postponed to 2023 and more details will be available at a later date.

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"Fans with tickets to all postponed World Tour dates should await further news on dates, venues and cities as updates become available," the post read.

It also stated that current tickets will be honoured for the new show but ticket holders who are unable to make it can request a full refund "as per the ticket price reflected on your ticket".

Chan got her tickets back in March and she bought the $700 Ghost VIP ticket for both the Singapore and Kuala Lumpur (KL) concerts. In total, she spent $1,400 on tickets — including other fees such as the booking fee — and has requested a refund. However, she is aware that she won't be getting that amount back in full.

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While it is "low-key annoying", Chan is resigned to it. "It is what it is. The other charges are minute as compared to the actual ticket cost anyway," she said.

As for her trip to KL, Chan will still be flying over — not because she won't be able to get a refund, but because it's also a personal holiday.

The trip was originally planned because of the concert, she said, "but ultimately my friend and I decided to make it a short getaway for us, too".

In terms of monetary loss, there isn't much of an impact on her. She explained: "I'm lucky that I'm in a position where I have disposable income to enjoy such leisure activities as and when I want."

However, she added: "My heart aches for the fans who scrimped and saved every dollar they had to attend the concert to only receive disappointment."

And Brunei fan Jean Ng is one such person.

Speaking to AsiaOne via text, the 23-year-old university student said she and her friends were disappointed "once again" after the cancellation of his 2017 tour in Singapore.

Ng shared that seven of them were planning to fly to Singapore for the concert. The flight cost about $500 each and the ticket about $305 each.

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When asked if they had specially saved for this, Ng answered in the affirmative.

"We had this trip in mind right when the Justice Tour was announced and we knew Singapore would be included sooner or later. We feel like our upcoming trip has become somewhat unnecessary and that we have to go just to get our money's worth," she said.

Apart from feeling forced to go on her trip, Ng will also be missing out on classes "for nothing".

"A few of my friends who are joining me on this trip have also applied for leave from their workplace to accommodate this trip. Hence, it felt like this is a waste of time and effort after the cancellation," she said.

Ng decided to go ahead with the trip but only to avoid the flight cancellation fee. She felt that it wasn't worth paying for it considering the "late announcement" and that the flight is in two weeks.

She shared that the group even waited till July to book their flights as the tour "seemed to be going as planned at that time".

After the Europe tour was postponed, Ng also reached out to the concert organiser for confirmation that the Asia tour would continue. However, she said she was "given either vague answers or that 'based on their knowledge', the show would still go forward".

Like Chan, she has also opted to refund her tickets as she isn't confident that the postponed dates (when announced) will even happen.

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That said, if and when the dates are announced, Ng would love to get tickets again but "only if Asia is put first".

"It is safe to say we now have trust issues with the whole team and might not try to get tickets to his shows to be let down again."

As for Chan, she will "definitely be booking again but with low expectations".

"After all, KL's pretty near to Singapore so I'm not too bothered by the extra cost at the moment," she said.

AsiaOne has reached out to Unusual Entertainment for more information and will update this article if they respond.

bryanlim@asiaone.com

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