POP stars McFly have received thousands of pounds in fees for their cancelled concert in Ipswich, The Evening Star can reveal today.While more than 3,000 fans are set to lose their £25 ticket price, the Star understands that the boy band has received a substantial deposit for three gigs.

POP stars McFly have received thousands of pounds in fees for their cancelled concert in Ipswich, The Evening Star can reveal today.

While more than 3,000 fans are set to lose their £25 ticket price, the Star understands that the boy band has received a substantial deposit for three gigs.

The money was paid by promoter John Hessenthaler Concert Productions before that company went into administration on June 20.

The band's management has also since refused to send them to make a personal appearance at the Ipswich Town friendly on July 29, claiming it would not be possible for "logistical" reasons.

The band will not be in Ipswich that night because the Christchurch Park gig has been cancelled - although it was arranged some months ago that they would be here.

Ipswich Town Football Club has offered to exchange McFly tickets for match tickets for its friendly match with Atletico Madrid on the same night.

It had promised that the match would have a "McFly theme" and had hoped the band would perform on a small stage for 30 minutes before the game.

At the least it hoped they would be able to make a personal appearance at half-time.

However the band's spokesman said today that they did not want to disappoint their fans by doing a show which was not up to their usual standard.

Ipswich Town spokesman Terry Baxter said: "It is very disappointing. We thought as McFly were already supposed to be in Ipswich that night they would be happy to do this for their fans.

"But now we've heard they can't for logistical reasons. We have no idea what that means - they were supposed to be here anyway.

"We have offered to exchange tickets for the match, and we hope many people will take up that offer. We have done all we can to help."

Steven Law from accountants Ensors, who is administrator of John Hessenthaler Productions, could not comment on the size of the deposit because of confidentiality rules.

He said: "It is quite normal that there is a deposit paid for these kind of events to ensure the availability of the acts.

"I am not aware of McFly having made any alternative arrangements for that night."

A spokesman for the group said: "This situation has only arisen because the promoter went into administration and through no fault of the band who are extremely upset to have arrived at this position.

"The reason the band turned down the show at the Football Club was because they felt that doing a performance there wouldn't give the fans the show they deserved as the production was not sufficient to produce the Mcfly show that the fans were expecting and together with some logistical reasons it made the show unfeasible.

"The band want the fans to enjoy a Mcfly concert in its own right rather than as an aside to a football match, much as Ipswich Town Football Club's offer was much appreciated.

"Mcfly's management are now hard at work making all efforts to find an alternative to the cancelled show, and will let ticketholders know as soon as these arrangements have been made."

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