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OFFICIAL STATMENT:
ATB refuses to play Planetlove
It is with regret that I have to pen one of the worst unprofessional incidents we have encountered in almost 25 years of booking artists.
At 7pm on Saturday evening we respectfully asked ATB to help us with the smooth running of the show by playing his set at the festival from approximately 9pm to 11pm instead of his requested time of 10pm to 12midnight and he point blankly refused.
Instead he arrived at the site and chose to verbally abuse and threaten Judith, so much so that he had to be asked to calm down by his manager and security called as Judith feared that things would escalate further.
The facts are very simple. ATB chose not to play at all to the same crowd, in the same arena for the same two hour set rather than play one hour earlier!
I ask any rational person to try and relate to this.
He was paid in full, in advance, as where his flights and transport. He was treated with courtesy and respect but rather than play one hour earlier than he wanted to he hurled abuse, issued threats, wouldn’t play the new time and proceeded to blame PVD and was so convinced from the outset that it was PVD's doing that he even tried to coerce Judith into writing down that it was PVD’s fault. Paul Van Dyk did not even arrive at the venue until 11:45pm.
Never before has an artist refused to help with the smooth running of our shows and try and dictate what they should do. At the end of the day this show was about all artists and the people who went to enjoy them, not about one individual.
My thanks to the other artists, in particular Judge Jules, who did adapt to the time changes which facilitated the production crews the time to change over the defective generator during his set which was causing the problem in the first place. It is my belief that because of Jules help in the set time before 12 midnight that the change over was done in such a professional manner that I believe the crowd were not even aware that there was a problem. So simple when people work together.
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