Singer Oliver Anthony, 31, canceled his concert in Tennessee when the venue charged $99 for tickets and nearly double for a meet and greet, pleading with fans to not spend the hefty price tag.
Anthony, the Virginia artist behind the viral “Wealthy Men North of Richmond” tune, was scheduled to perform on the “Cotton Eyed Joe” bar in Knoxville before he and the venue couldn’t come to an agreement over the pricing.
The venue charged $99 for normal tickets and around $200 for a package that features a chance to satisfy the singer, in response to WVLT.
The country-folk singer expressed in a rant in multiple Facebook posts that he wants his shows to be a reasonable low-cost experience, calling the meet-and-greet fee “horses—t” and “speculated to be free.”
“I apologize for the value at Cotton Eyed Joe,” Anthony said Tuesday. “Have a friend of mine attempting to help me book gigs. I told him I don’t wish to do anything that’s greater than $40 a ticket, ideally not more than $25 a bit. These are speculated to be reasonably priced shows. Please don’t pay $90 for a ticket.”
“Ultimately, it’s my fault for not being more directly involved with the venues who’ve reached out. My plate has been full and I delegated the responsibility to another person to assist me book,” Anthony explained in a separate post.
Anthony preferred his tickets to cost fans as little as $25 to a max of $40.
Anthony admitted that a friend had booked the show and never him, probably causing the miscommunication with ticket pricing together with other charges.
The singer also posted a video to Instagram concerning the conundrum, saying when he came upon concerning the ticket prices, he was “pissed off.”
In a Facebook post, Cotton Eyed Joe claimed Anthony charged them $120,000 to perform for only one hour.
Anthony, nonetheless, refuted the claim, saying essentially the most he’s made on a show was $35,000.
The $120,000 charge also included production, security, staffing, hotel rooms and catering, in response to the Every day Mail.
The owner of Cotton Eyed Joe clapped back on the 31-year-old country singer, saying the ticket prices weren’t discussed during negotiations for the show.
“We talked concerning the price. I sent him a contract. Every part was cut in stone, black and white and once we put the tickets on sale, we were at 500 tickets that we had sold in about 4 hours,” Chuck Ward, the owner, told WATE.
“We negotiated a price, and nothing was ever said about how much to sell the tickets for. Nothing was ever said about charging for meet and greets,” the owner added.
Ultimately, in a change of events, Anthony admitted he might’ve been at fault for the ticket price chaos and took it up on a call with Cotton Eyed Joe.
Anthony said he was upset concerning the nearly $200 cost for the meet and greet, alleging the venue “suckered us into playing there just in order that they could make more money off of ya’ll.”
“My booking guy handled all of this on the phone with them. And I realize there are two sides to each story,” he typed out within the post.
“That being said, I wish them the very best. All of the fault ultimately is with me. I must have been more thoroughly involved within the booking, and I should probably think about using an expert consultant on this area,” he ended the note to his fans.
The event has since been rescheduled and can as an alternative happen at Knoxville Convention Center on Sept. 29, in response to the singer’s website.
