News

Rescheduled One Direction gig goes ahead amid ticket confusion

Shania King, Hollie Cartan, Angel O'Donnell, Orla Forest, Shane McKeegan and Ethan King at the rescheduled One Direction gig on Friday night
Shania King, Hollie Cartan, Angel O'Donnell, Orla Forest, Shane McKeegan and Ethan King at the rescheduled One Direction gig on Friday night Shania King, Hollie Cartan, Angel O'Donnell, Orla Forest, Shane McKeegan and Ethan King at the rescheduled One Direction gig on Friday night

ONE Direction's rescheduled concert went ahead in Belfast on Friday night - but there was confusion over refunds for the cancelled gig.

While thousands of fans were able to attend Friday night's rescheduled show, others were unable to make it to the SSE Arena after the original gig was cancelled at the last minute on Tuesday.

And for many already disappointed fans, there was confusion over the deadline for ticket refunds.

Dozens of people took to social media to criticise refund instructions which indicated that those with tickets for Tuesday night's cancelled concert had to return them by 4pm on Friday.

Many people criticised the short turn-around time for the refund.

One woman said: "Think it's a bit cheeky to expect people to be able to get down before 4pm Friday, if they can't make the show maybe there's a reason they can't get down to Belfast?"

Another woman commented: "Just off the phone with SSE. Told them I can't make the 150-mile round trip to get the tickets back and they said to post them first class, last post is 5pm.

"I won't make it to a post office by then so I explained that and was pretty much told that they can't do anything and to go talk to Ticketmaster. Bit ridiculous to give this info with 24hrs to go and expect tickets to be returned."

Another woman also said: "Not giving people much time if they can't make Friday's gig".

But a spokeswoman for the venue last night said refunds could still be requested after yesterday's deadline.

"Refunds were requested before 4pm on Friday 23rd October to enable any returned tickets to be sold to other fans who may want to attend this evening's One Direction concert," she said.

"Refunds will still be available after this time."

Thousands of One Direction fans had been left in tears on Tuesday when the group's gig - the first of a three night run - was cancelled at the last minute after band member Liam Payne had taken ill.

Minutes before the gig was due to begin, an announcement was made to distraught fans who had waited months to see the group perform live.

On Wednesday, it was announced the rescheduled show would take place on Friday night.

The rescheduled date meant that the Belfast Giants' ice-hockey game against the Sheffield Steelers, which was due to take place on Friday night, had to be postponed.