StarBulletin.com

Band flies this way in 2 months


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POSTED: Thursday, July 16, 2009

Two years later to the month, veteran rock band Aerosmith will make good on its canceled concert at Maui's War Memorial Auditorium.

The band will return to Hawaii for two shows on Maui and Oahu at the end of its current North American tour in late September. The exact dates for shows and ticket sales have yet to be determined.

A class-action suit was brought against the band on behalf of some 8,500 concert ticketholders after Aerosmith canceled a Maui show set for Sept. 26, 2007—even though the band played a private concert, along with Stevie Nicks, two days later for 6,000 U.S. representatives of Toyota at the University of Hawaii's Les Murakami Stadium.

Attorney Brandee Faria said a Maui Circuit Court judge gave final approval to the settlement yesterday.

The settlement will give those who filed claims—all of whom have already been reimbursed for the price of their original Maui concert tickets—new tickets at no cost in either the same reserved seats or substantially similar to the originals. Those opting to go to the Oahu concert will be given the same consideration.

Neighbor island claimants who also bought tickets for the 2007 Aerosmith Maui concert will also be given $100 travel credit to go to either the upcoming Maui or Oahu shows, Faria said.

“;On top of that,”; she said, “;all out-of-pocket costs will be reimbursed. The band has agreed to putting out $460,000 to pay for the claim notices that were mailed out, claims administration, and attorney fees and costs.”;

Faria said that the class-action suit never went to trial because “;if the defendant (Aerosmith) were to be found guilty, the band was liable up to triple the amount of damages.”;

She said that while it was a formidable task to serve a class-action suit on a band the stature of Aerosmith, the response from her clients has been well worth it.

“;I've received dozens and dozens of personalized thank-you notes from them. They basically said that this is all we wanted and you actually made them do it.”;