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Tyson show descends into farce
Thursday 5th November 2009, 11:00AM GMT.
Mike Tyson’s appearance in Wolverhampton descended into a farce last night – with fans storming out demanding refunds after a shambolic evening that saw the boxer arrive on stage nearly three hours late.
See also: Photos: Mike Tyson and fans at Wolverhampton Civic
The legend finally appeared on stage at the Civic Hall at 11.04pm. A three-course VIP dinner arranged for die-hard fans who had paid up to £300 a ticket was not served until midnight, leading to many to abandon their tables and walk out.
Scores of the 1,300 fans who turned out for the ‘Audience With Mike Tyson’ event, some from as far as Scotland and Portsmouth, walked out in disgust just minutes into his appearance complaining of being cheated.
Others were forced to leave early amid fears their cars would get locked inside the Civic Centre car park, which stayed open late. The eagerly-awaited event saw 43-year-old Tyson jet in from Las Vegas for the first night of his UK theatre tour.
Fuming Tracey Astley, from Birmingham New Road, in Dudley, who bought tickets for the show as a birthday gift for her boyfriend was among the many fans who today pledged to put in an official complaint to the Civic Hall about the evening.
The 37-year-old secretary, who walked out just minutes after Tyson finally walked on stage, said: “It was a total waste of money. I’m so annoyed.”
Superfan Jansen Harris, of Stevenson Drive, Perton, Wolverhampton, named his son Tye after the boxer, but said the event had descended into “meltdown”.
Anne O’Rourke, of Quinton, who won her VIP tickets in a competition reckoned the appearance was “shambolic.”
She said: “We got back to Quinton after 1am, having had to leave a three-course meal that was part of our VIP package, because the food still hadn’t been served by the time the event was over.”
Doors opened at 6pm for VIP guests, who had expected a dinner and personal greeting and photograph with Mike Tyson before the rest of the audience arrived.
But, after turning up at the venue at around 7.30pm, the star only spoke to a handful of the fans and had to be brought back by his minders to have his photograph taken with the rest.
The VIP guests spent hours in the bar before the entertainment, including a Pink tribute act, got under way at around 8.30pm without the lights in the venue ever being dimmed.
Boxing legends Ken Buchanan and Alan Minter hosted question and answer sessions, before a lengthy auction for memorabilia including a framed belt that sold for £4,000.
The auction was described in promotional material as a charity sale although no details were given last night of the beneficiaries.
The restless crowd heckled and jeered before Tyson eventually walked on stage at 11.04pm, and answered questions until 11.50pm. Fans who waited in the rain at the stage door to see the former world champion leave were rewarded with hastily-scribbled autographs.
A beaming Tyson, oblivious to the anger of some of his fans, spoke to the Express & Star as the fighter jumped into a waiting people carrier.
He said: “Wolverhampton was fantastic. I had a great time here.”
Clutching his chest, he added: “The people really took me to their hearts, they are the best.”
Tyson’s promoter Jimmy Clyne was today unavailable for comment and fans wanting to complain by phone were told by a recorded answering service at the Civic Hall that the message box was full.
Rupert Knowlden, commercial manager at Wolverhampton Civic Hall, said: “Mike Tyson was late coming to the venue which caused some disruption to the running of the show. But he came on stage and went down an absolute storm with the audience.
“One man, who has seen him five times, believed it was the longest he had ever seen him stay on stage.”
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I’d feel pretty ripped off if i’d have paid for the table seats at the front, having had no food but i’m not minted and was rather content with my view from the balcony and enjoyed the night on a whole!!
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sado’s. what a waste of money.
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oh the humanity!
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I want a refund and I won’t be alone!
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He might have messed people about, but who’s going to tell him???
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The most shocking aspect of this story is the poor kid in Perton whose dad named him “Tye”. Crumbs.
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What else do you expect for your money when you use it to finance the comings and goings of a convicted rapist brute?
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I was a VIP at this event and can earnestly say that VIP tickets were completely oversold. This may have been what caused an already late arrival to fall hopelessly behind schedule.
It was good to see Iron Mike and have a picture taken with him but overall I was dissappointed.
The side acts were a waste of time, it was too loud, Buchanan and Minter were belittled by the presenter (who went on to bully and mock the audience).
If I was Mike, I would never do anything like this again. Which is very sad because he was very well received when he finally appeared.
I cannot even imagine how angry regular ticket holders were, being made to wait for upwards of five hours before they saw the man they payed to come and see.
Auctions were a waste of time, the presenter was a waste of space and there were hundreds of furious people there. 0/5
Nobody got value for money that night.
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Visit website Jimmy Clyne Promotions and complain, I have. He took the michael last night
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With his history I am surprised so many idiots would pay money to see him.
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Haha. Give me Status Quo on stage any day. Roll 5th December for my 40th Quo gig.
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£300 to see a rapist thug?
Serves them all right money would be better spend elsewhere
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fancy paying to line the pockets of this dispicable human being.
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Par for the course.I am just surprised that people would want to pay good money to see him with his history.
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why are you people blaming tyson for? he doesnt do the organising at all, and if you people understood how events work, you would realise that. Its all very well for the express and star to try and get a cheap headline, but as we all know, since when do the express and star ever report the facts of a case accurately? With their pityful editing and countless typos to the the outright wrong stories.
He got stuck in traffic, it happens, blame the people running the show, not the guest!
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Should have popped down the road to Molineux where Ricky Hatton gave a top class performance and was very funny. Well done Ricky & Wolves for a great night!!!!
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Waste of Money.
Im so annoyed about last night,i want my money back.They couldnt organise a knees up in a brewery. Then by the time he walked on 11:10, we had to go and rescue my car from the car park which was closing at 11:30, so i saw 10mins of it..Not a happy chappy
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Hey. Alot of people are blaming TYson. Really, its not his fault. He just does what he’s told. On the Sky News interview when asked about where he’s going in the U.K, he just basically said that he don’t know, becuase other people sort everything out.
Also, was ricky hatton really at molineux last night?
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“One man who has seen him five times, belived it was the longest he had ever seen him on stage”. Superb.
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we played at this event as we thought it’s a massive step for us being unsigned an all, we’re as gutted as anyone. We are with out a doubt not tuneless, as stated in one story. Search our name and listen for your self.
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Not the first event where Tysons fans wanted their money back. Last UK visit organised by different people had demands for refunds too I’m told. So it seems its not necessarily the organisers fault…. though sometimes I don’t think all organisers fully appreciate the problems of working with people like this and compound the problem.
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The exact same thing happened when he had ‘a night with Mike Tyson’ at the ICC in Birmingham last year.
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I didn’t hear complaints when Joe Pasquale didn’t show after being stuck in traffice on 22nd Oct at Dudley Concert Hall – at least he is worth encouraging. I wouldn’t have gone to see Mike Tyson if someone had paid me.
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Thats , i feel sorry for the fans
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..Thats awful, i feel sorry for the fans. i wouldnt pay to see him anyway
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Im just glad i never went.
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4th Street Traffic – didn’t pay to see you BUT you were a good band, and not out of tune. Miss Understood – very good Pink tribute had I have been in a better mood I would have enjoyed watching you, again, I didnt want to see performances by anyone, but she was very good too.
Compere, patronising? YES. What man in their right mind tells a crowd of angry people that if they don’t settle down he will drag it out even longer? FOOL.
Other boxing guests…couldnt appreciate as I couldn’t hear them.
Constant intervals, auctions that about 10 people could afford and finally…having to leave to get the car out of the car park before they locked it. Paid £50 for nothing. AND, for those saying he wasn’t worth it…I wanted to hear from the man himself, listen to what he had to say, I dont believe he raped that woman and I don’t think he is a thug, thugs are found at this very moment mugging old folk and dealing drugs in every town.
JOKE JOKE JOKE Never again.
And yes it is Tysons fault as much as the organiser as HE WAS in the building late but he could have gone on stage much sooner.
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i only went to see tyson cos my boyfriend wanted to see him, im not a big fan. but it was a sham the whole night. highlight of my night was chris ebank in the balcony right next to me that made my night. also the pink tribute band was fantastic.
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I was there yesterday and was disappointed too, but why do readings feel the need to blame Mike Tyson when he was not responsible for organising the event? The promoter needs to take responsibily as it was their show not Tysons.
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I went to the event with a mate of mine last night, we had looked forward to it and once there we were waiting hours. The ‘host’ was completely unprofessional and couldn’t control the room to save his life. All in all I feel ripped off, i went to see Mike Tyson not watch musicians and when he finally came on stage he answer a handful of questions.
If anyone has any idea of where i can send a complaint to i’d appreciate them to share.
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Ya’ll should have watched him here in Cleveland on TV’s Opra last week, It was so amazing – at least that’s what the network said- I fell asleep before his first sentance -
In the words of one well known TV sarge
Oh my, so sad, never mind :)
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I wish to make a complaint regarding the event I attended Wednesday at Civic centre Wolverhampton. It was a complete shambles! The event was miss-sold; it was simply a disgusting and total poorly managed/ promoted event. I thought it was an audience with Tyson! and not an audience with two bands, an MC who got on everyone’s nerves and loved the sound of his own voice. And then an auction which went on way too long and was it supposed to be for charity? which charity! What was the bloody point! Eventually,Tyson did appear on stage at 11.15 pm and was on stage for no more than 30 minutes. That is disgusting. The audience were naturally very upset, angry and heckled the MC, some fans even left even before Tyson came out to catch trains get to their cars etc. unfortunately the show tried to put on too much forgetting what the people actually came here to see – Tyson. I paid £50 for two tickets; I couldn’t even see the man let alone hear him. It was the worst event I have ever experienced and as a boxing fan I will not be coming back to the civic centre anytime soon. It was a publicity stunt using poor Tyson’s reputation and name for your own cash in. All the acts before Tyson had longer out on stage than he did? How can that be justified? He was supposed to be the main attraction. I would very much like a full refund please promoters. My poor lad was upset and looked forward to seeing his hero! It was a complete waste of time and money. In the local press there have been numerous complaints regarding the show and I am certain more complaints will come. I await your swift response please.
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I was sooooooo dissapointed with how this show was ran and staged. The MC constantly belittled the crowd, and the auctions were a waste of time for 99% of the audience. What “charity” were they even for? The support acts were so loud I had to leave the hall during them as I am pregnant and it was so loud I could feel every note reverbing – very poor sound engineering.
I understand Mike was late to the hall due to traffic, but he was there before 8pm, so why was he not on stage sooner? Why all of the intervals? I had to leave about 15 mins into his appearance as the car park was being locked at 11.30pm, if they were planning on keeping the carpark open later for all of the fans then there should have been an announcement instead of the relentless “shushing” from the MC.
However, Mike himself was a very interesting man – and I was impressed he told the MC he was boring and wanted questions from the crowd but it was a waste of money for the 15mins of Tyson.
For the promotors: a better staged production next time please – this looked like an amateur attempt at extorting money from fans. Why not show some video clips of his or the other guests fights? Make this a better run and better value event.
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Can’t understand anyone wanting to see a rapist! Serves them all right! Should have given their money to Victim Support, load of saddos.
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Hey guys….
reading all your comments i truly dont feel any sympathy for those that attended.
I in fact agree with the comments that are stating you were foolish to pay money to see this….erm “celebrity” (i could have chosen other words, as others have).
But i will say thins…
who paid £300?
Who paid £50?
dosent matter really…as you only have to wait 2 weeks and you can pay £12 again to see him for Cameo in “The Hangover” dvd.
Im sure you’ll have a much better time viewong that, from the comfort of your own home for much cheaper. And although he is who is is and he is what he is, his Cameo in that is rather funny.
Enjoy! lol
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Great time for the E&S to step in and help the poor punters out and get a happy ending to this shambles- come on E&S help them out !!
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