The second Australian tour of Elvis-The Concert previously announced for May 2001 has been canceled. A real downer, especially after the high of a smashingly successful third tour of Europe in March.
Jacobsen Entertainment, the agency that represents all of the venues that were booked for the Australian tour, asked to be released from their contract with Elvis-The Concert. It was this same company that represented the concert venues on our very successful first Australian tour in 1999. For 2001, Jacobsen's promotional efforts at least equaled efforts for the previous tour there, but ticket sales for the 2001 tour were not up to the level needed for the show to be viable for Jacobsen to keep on their roster this time around. This is attributed mostly to the current economic slowdown in Australia and the fact that this was a second visit by the show and not the historic first it was in 1999.
Before the contract cancellation was settled between Jacobsen and SEG Events (our show's producer/presenter)and before any planning of public communiciation could be coordinated amongst Graceland/EPE and these two companies, Jacobsen had shut down ticket sales and word had spread amongst the various Elvis fan sites, while the Graceland/EPE site still had the tour schedule posted and had not sent out an official cancellation announcement. In fact, our producer had not even had time to inform the cast or anyone back home at Graceland/EPE that a cancellation was happening. This was an unfortunate situation we all wish had not happened, but we have no animosity toward Jacobsen at all regarding the "surprise" announcement. We'll chalk it up to a failure in communication but no failure in anyone's good intentions. They have been great to work with all along and have alwasys been very enthusatic about Elvis-The Concert. We and SEG Events opted to answer individual inquiries as they came in, but not delete the Australian tour from our site or issue an e-newsletter alert until contract cancellation settlement was final. Now, it is.
No further overseas touring is in the works at the moment, but no one knows what the future could hold. We'll see. However, we do expect to be announcing another USA date or two for August - these shows to be presented in the days leading up to the special August 16, 2001 show in Memphis for Elvis Week. There are no bookings specifically in the works for after that Memphis show, but our producer and his booking agency are continuing to explore all possibilities for the immediate future, including into 2002.
As always whatever confirmed show dates we have will always be posted on our web site www. elvis.com . As always, the moment a new booking is confirmed we will post it on the tour schedule and we will issue an e-newsletter alert. Whatever we can tell you will always be posted on the site and/or in one of these e-newsletters.
Once again, our sincere thanks to all the fans everywhere for your enthusiastic and heartfelt support of Elvis-The Concert. We'll keep you informed as the magic continues.
