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UB40 are headling the A Summer’s Day Live concert.
Families attending a concert in Nelson have had their plans upended, with promoters advising at the last minute the event had been changed to R18.
A Summer’s Day Live concert, featuring the bands UB40, Jefferson Starship and Dragon, is taking place at Rutherford Park from 4.30pm on Friday, with the event billed as all ages welcome.
But at 2pm on Friday, organisers Neptune Entertainment posted to the event Facebook page to say all attendees must be 18 years or older.
“Unfortunately, there has been an oversight with our liquor license application that has only been identified today, we regret to inform you that the event will now be R18,” the update said.
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“We would like to offer our sincerest apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused anyone.”
Several concert-goers replied to the Facebook post to express their disappointment, including one who said she had bought tickets for her 15-year-old daughter and 16-year-old niece.
“They were Christmas presents and my sister flew down from Wellington to be with us and go to the concert as well.”
The ticket holder, who did not want to be named, said the family had all travelled from Wellington and extended their trip for the concert.
While out for lunch, she happened to check her emails and saw the cancellation for under 18 patrons.
“To send an email two hours before the gates open to an event is pretty shocking.”
Including travel costs, food, accommodation and tickets, the mother said she would have spent an additional $2500 to extend the trip.
“Really disappointed, my daughter’s really gutted because she loves UB40, and it was the end of her holiday so not very happy at all,” she said.
“Why can’t they just give you an ID band?
“They should still be allowing under 18s, and I don’t see why they couldn’t have rushed in an emergency liquor licence.”
She did request a refund for her ticket and the two under 18s and through emailed confirmation, was told it would take one to 10 days for the money to be back in her account.
“It is what it is, there’s not much you can do about it but if I hadn’t had checked my emails, I would have rocked up with the kids and not got in.
“I still could have gone, but I feel mean to the kids.”
Another comment on the Facebook post said their 17-year-old son had got tickets for his birthday.
“We cannot go without him, that would be most unfair.”
The post said concert-goers with child tickets would automatically be refunded, while those with adult tickets who were under 18 were required to fill in a form to apply for a refund.
Refunds requested for adult tickets would only be honoured if they were within an order with child tickets.
Refunds would be available until midnight on Jan 8.
The event also encountered an issue earlier this week when the Mount Maunganui concert scheduled for Wednesday had to be cancelled due to the weather.