Streisand's Rome concert canned amid pricing protests
Last Updated: Saturday, May 26, 2007 | 10:53 AM ET
CBC Arts
The Rome kickoff to Barbra Streisand's upcoming European tour has apparently been scrapped, amid a brouhaha by Italian consumer groups over high ticket prices for the famed performer's show.
The cancellation of the June 15 show — which would have been Streisand's first ever in Italy — has nothing to do with the current controversy, a spokeswoman for Concert Promotions International told Reuters.
Barbra Streisand is now starting her European concert tour in Vienna, on June 21.
(Seth Wenig/Associated Press)
Organizers cited production difficulties as the reason the Rome concert has been scrapped.
On Streisand's official website Saturday morning, the first stop on her European tour is listed as Vienna, on June 21. Other stops include venues in France, Ireland and the U.K.
Earlier this month, Italian consumer groups Adusbef and Codacons led a protest over the planned show at Rome's 24,000-seat Stadio Flaminio.
The two groups called on the stadium's owner and manager — the city government and Italy's Olympic committee, respectively — to back out of the concert because tickets were going as high as 900 euros (about $1,315 Cdn).
The groups called the pricing "absurd and shameful."
Last year, when the Oscar-winning performer toured North America, the pricing was similar. For instance, the tickets for her Toronto show rose to a maximum of more than $1,700 Cdn.
