Madonna asks court to dismiss lawsuit over late concert start times

nme.com:

Madonna’s lawyers have asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit filed against her on the grounds of late concert start times.In January, Michael Fellows and Jonathan Hadden, two fans who bought tickets to the December 13 date of Madonna’s ‘Celebration’ tour at the Barclays Center, filed a lawsuit against Madonna for starting the concert more than two hours past the stipulated 8:30PM start time.The lawsuit accused her of not only breaching contracts with ticket buyers, but also of “false advertising, negligent representation, and unfair and deceptive trade practices”.In the new filing, Madonna’s representatives have written: “Plaintiffs speculate that ticketholders who left the venue after 1am might have had trouble getting a ride home or might have needed to wake up early the next day for work.

That is not a cognizable injury.”The motion also states that one of the plaintiffs, Jonathan Hadden, “raved” about the show in a social media post, calling it “incredible as always!”In response to the original suit, Madonna’s representatives and Live Nation issued a joint statement, expressing their intentions to “defend this case vigorously”.

Per Billboard, the parties attributed the delay to a technical difficulty experienced during the soundcheck for the December 13 date.“The shows opened in North America at Barclays in Brooklyn as planned, with the exception of a technical issue December 13th during soundcheck,” the statement read. “This caused a delay that was well documented in press reports at the time.