W.A.S.P. Cancel New York Show at Last Minute After Promoter Tries to Overcharge Fans

W.A.S.P. abruptly canceled Thursday night's show at the Grammercy Theater in New York City because of an alleged scam the club promoter tried to pull on the band's fans. Apparently, the venue sold 50 VIP tickets to the show for $50 (twice the normal admission price) to fans who wished to attend a meet and greet with the band. However, the band was never been told about the arrangement.

"These tickets were sold to these 50 or so fans without W.A.S.P. having any knowledge of this, let alone agreeing to this," said frontman Blackie Lawless. "Upon learning of this late in the afternoon of the show day, W.A.S.P. insisted that the promoter of this venue, who sold these VIP tickets to these fans, return the VIP portion of those tickets back to the fans. This meant that the promoter would have had to give each of those VIP ticket holders a refund of $25 of each ticket. W.A.S.P. demanded that this $25 be returned to each of these ticket holders in cash prior to the meet and greet, which W.A.S.P was still going to do."

Stung by W.A.S.P.'s suggestion, the promoter refused to return the cash. When the band threatened not to play the show unless the promoter gave the fans back their money, the promoter told W.A.S.P. to buzz off.

"We are saddened that it had to result in the cancellation of our performance for this evening, but we believe this unfortunate situation amounts to nothing more than our fans being ripped off," Lawless said. "We have never charged a fan for an autograph and will never charge any fans for an autograph.

"To all the fans that came to the show and were turned away, please accept our sincerest apologies," Lawless continued. "W.A.S.P. cannot and will not ever stand by and watch or be involved in their fans being ripped off."