THE GATHERING Singer: Toronto Venue Owner Lied To Us

THE GATHERING singer Anneke van Giersbergen has issued a statement accusing the owners of a Toronto venue and associated concert promoters of leaving them "without any kind of equipment to play" during their recent appearance in the city and "lying about everything" with regards to what transpired on the night in question.

As previously reported, THE GATHERING's second Toronto show (Feb. 14),originally announced on Feb. 11 as a last-minute replacement for their canceled New York (L'Amour) date, was called off early Saturday "due to unreasonable demands and a breakdown in communications between THE GATHERING's management and the promoter," according to the promoter's (Inertia Entertainment) original statement announcing the cancellation.

In a posting to the band's official web site dated Feb. 14, THE GATHERING singer Anneke van Giersbergen gave her own explanation for the cancellation, stating, "the Canadian audience made us feel very welcome yesterday [Feb. 13]. Thank you for that. The owner of the venue however, left us playing without a sound system and tried to rip us off financially. We will come with a more detailed explanation later."

Responding to Anneke's posting, a representative for Inertia Entertainment called the band's explanation for the show cancellation "a crock" and accused the group's management of showing "absolutely no respect for their fans. . . Their problem was they wanted a full soundcheck, and then there was a slight crackle in one monitor. Unless the sound was perfect in that one monitor, they were not opening the doors," he wrote.

Writing to THE GATHERING's official web site on Thursday (Feb. 19),Anneke said, "the whole Canada gig uproar is very overrated.

"The one and only explanation for leaving the second gig is that the owner of the venue left us without any kind of equipment to play the show, and tried to rip us off financially as well. He lies about everything and it is not in our mentality to work with such people a second time.

"We are truly sorry for the Canadian people who came for the show on the second day. That is all that matters to us. We will come back to Canada to play in a decent venue for sure.

"Furthermore we would like to give a big thanks to the bandmembers and crew of NOVEMBERS DOOM and AGALLOCH for their great support and a fantastic week! We hope to see you again.

"Last but not least, a huge thanks to Andreas from The End Records who did a terrific job, and kept the good spirit."