Publication: The San Francisco Examiner [US]
Date: April 11, 1997
Section: Weekend
Page Number(s): D-1
Length: 320 Words
Title: "Some Day My Prince Will Come"
Written By: Craig Marine

The Artist, who used to be The Artist Formerly Known as Prince, who used to be Prince, abruptly canceled a concert scheduled for Saturday at the Event Center at San Jose State, blaming ticket scalping for his decision.

Billy Sparks, who works for The Artist in a marketing capacity, said at a press conference Friday morning that The Artist would be rescheduling a Bay Area show using a ticket voucher system like the one Pearl Jam used on their last tour.

Sparks said The Artist "feels really bad about what happened here, but he felt that this has got to stop."

The show, which was to have been a benefit for the Love 4 One Another charity, sold out in fewer than five minutes when tickets went on sale Monday.

"Though the show sold out in five minutes," Sparks said, "the fans got shut out. They got shut out for some fat cats who came in and did a number."

Lee Smith from Bill Graham Presents said that the voucher system would take longer to implement but that "the tickets would end up in the hands of the fans." There was no date mentioned for a possible return engagement.

Prince will be playing a show in Los Angeles Friday for which the ticket voucher system was used.

Refunds for the San Jose show (tickets cost $ 56 including service charge) will be available at the place of purchase. Tickets for the canceled show will not be honored for the rescheduled concert, whenever and wherever that is.