An American family who attended the Jacob Collier fiasco in Bristol - which saw the audience evacuated from the O2 Academy - says "no one got what they paid for" and organisers should reschedule the event or refund ticket holders. Robert Timm said he brought £300 VIP tickets in March 2021 as he knew his family would be relocating from New York to South Wales.
But despite eagerly awaiting the much-anticipated show at Bristol's O2 Academy on June 4, an unfortunate power outage disrupted proceedings. Mr Timm and his family were among the many visitors who decided to leave as they did not know how long the outage would last and were told by organisers that several areas across the city were affected.
"It was unpredictable and staff were telling people to clear the area and some people didn't. Being from New York with my family, the last thing you do in a public safety issue is to hang around to see what happens," he added. But as fans left the venue, Jacob Collier held an impromptu acoustic gig outside before a shorter onstage set later that evening once the power was back on.
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The Software Engineer and his family later heard that Jacob Collier performed on the streets but still felt "no one got what they paid for that night and it's not professional to say they delivered the service or event as sold". Five days after the event Mr Timms was offered a refund or tickets to a future event.
"My son is a music student and a very avid fan of Jacob Collier so I brought the VIP ticket because we were eager to bring him there. A lot of people were more cavalier about it and maybe they weren't as invested in the evening as we were but it really was just very disappointing given the anticipation of it, " he added.
Jacob Collier kept fans entertained outside the venue before the power was restored
The 55-year-old said he recognised that it was an unfortunate event but has waited for the show for two years after earlier dates were rescheduled due to Covid.
"Jacob tried to make the best of it as an artist and I do not blame him for it but the night did not go off like it was supposed to. My preference would be that they [organisers] reschedule that Bristol event for the ticket holders or at the very minimum refund tickets - especially for the VIP holders," he added.
He claims to have reached out to the O2 Academy about his ordeal and five days later, he was offered the option of a refund or tickets to a future event.
He hopes organisers can recognise the impact the evacuation has had on ticket holders and "professionally do the right thing to rectify it".
The O2 Academy has been approached for comment.
