Power failure leaves jazz fans disappointed
Hundreds of jazz fans were left disappointed after a power failure forced the cancellation of two concerts at the Everyman Theatre.
The power cut dealt a £10,000 blow to the Cheltenham Jazz Festival, which was forced to refund punters' money.
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Everyman Theatre
The lights went out at the Regent Street venue shortly before 1pm on Saturday afternoon, in the final minutes of the Will Vinson Quartet.
The power remained off until 5.30pm, forcing the cancellation of dual performance by pianist Nikki Yeoh and saxophonist John Surman, along with the BBC Big Band event with Dave Liebman.
About 600 disappointed audience members were given full refunds on their tickets for the cancelled performances.
The power came back on in time for the evening performance by legendary American singer Madeleine Peyroux.
At the start of her sell-out show, Peyroux joked with the audience: "I thought we were going to have to go out into the street."
Donna Renney, chief executive of Cheltenham Festivals, said: "I felt terrible having to disappoint audiences and musicians for two of our most anticipated events.
"The Festival was determined that Madeleine Peyroux's evening concert would not be cancelled and had a generator standing by from Bristol if power could not be restored.
"We are very grateful to everyone involved for being so very understanding."
High Street clothes store Republic was the only other business affected by the power cut.
Andrew Barrow, from Central Networks, said the power cut was due to a fault at the Cheltenham substation.
He said: "At 12.44pm a joint faulted which affected two customers on the low voltage underground network.
"Engineers restored the power by 5.30pm but unfortunately that was too late for the jazz fans in Cheltenham and our apologies go to them.
"We maintain good service to the electricity network 99.98 per cent of the time but on occasion power cuts do occur.
"We do advise larger businesses or organisations that are electricity-dependant to consider investing in a back-up power source."
For a full round-up of the weekend's events, see Monday's Gloucestershire Echo.
6 Comments
by Regent retailer, Cheltenham
Monday, May 04 2009, 10:07AM
“Its the second time its happened recently and it puts my store out too. I didn't have to close though but it does mess up my till.
Please get it sorted!”
by Terry Heath, Cheltenham
Sunday, May 03 2009, 10:31PM
“Problem is probably due to Central Networks inventing and installing a new type of joint that can only be described by a previously non-existent word, faulted”
by Victor, Meldrew
Sunday, May 03 2009, 7:04PM
“Pity there isn't a power cut in the Houses of Parliament.... but they're probably on another holiday at the moment anyway.”
by Willow, Gloucester
Sunday, May 03 2009, 4:40PM
“DG - when the power cut happened during the Proms concert a couple of years ago, the building had to be evacuated for safety....this did not stop the brass section busking out in the street (what pro's!) and some of the audience dancing along!”
by DG, Cheltenham
Sunday, May 03 2009, 4:04PM
“The Everyman Theatre has been subject to power cuts for decades.
I remember an actor reading Dylan Thomas's poem "August Bank Holiday" to the audience from the stage by torchlight in the 1960's during one such cut !
Time the problem was sorted?”
by Willow, Gloucester
Sunday, May 03 2009, 2:19PM
“A similar occurrence happened during the "Last Night Of The Proms" event a couple of years ago....3 concerts ruined in two years....I know "Things Happen" but it sounds like there is a problem that affects things a little more than 0.02% of the time!! Shame - the Everyman is a great venue for such concerts.”