Approximately 400 students and community members who bought tickets to last weekend’s E-40 rap concert at UC Davis fraternity Theta Xi have been unable to refund their tickets, which cost at least $20 each.
The concert was cancelled for undisclosed reasons.
Though officials of Theta Xi did not comment regarding the concert or ticket refunds, the City of Davis Police Department confirmed that the noise permit for the concert was rendered invalid shortly before the Apr. 25 concert, due to an inaccurate request.
“We found out that what [the person who filed the permit] put on the permit was not advertised online,” said Lieutenant Colleen Turay. “They wrote that they would be having some DJs perform, and some kind of open microphone, but nothing was mentioned about E-40.“
E-40, a bay area rapper, has been banned in some northern California venues due to an occasionally violent following; however, Turay said this was not the reason why the police department rendered the permit invalid.
Dallas Imbimbo of 6trees entertainment company filed the permit. The entertainment company had been working with Theta Xi since the beginning of April, and has also coordinated concerts in Davis such as Gym Class Heroes and Andre Nickatina.
Those who bought tickets found out through word of mouth that the concert had been cancelled less than a week before it was scheduled to occur, with no official announcement from the fraternity.
Those who bought their tickets online were notified by 6trees that their tickets could not be refunded. Imbimbo stated that Theta Xi had breached “almost every single section of the contract they signed with us.“
“The social chair of Theta Xi sent me a text message a few days before the show saying that they were going to cancel the concert,” Imbimbo said. “We had already arranged aspects of the concert like artist fees and production fees that just aren’t refundable.“
Students bought tickets through a company called EventBrite, which had no access to the money earned from ticket sales. The sale is managed through PayPal, which is linked to Imbimbo’s account.
“That money is locked and frozen,” he said. “I have absolutely no access to it.“
Imbimbo stated that he will be pursuing legal action against Theta Xi because of the various breaches in the contract. He believes it is the fraternity’s responsibility to pay buyers back.
“The e-mail from the promoters said that they weren’t issuing refunds,” said Gloria Lu, a sophomore psychology major who bought two tickets for the concert online for herself and a friend. “They wouldn’t say why, and I had to find out that the concert was cancelled through a friend, who approached one of the fraternity brothers to ask why. It’s really sketchy.“
The concert cost approximately $20,000, $3,000 of which 6trees payed of out of their own pocket, Imbimbo said.
“This is what bankrupts people,” he said. “It puts us in a real bad situation. You can’t just cancel these kinds of things.“
Various members of Theta Xi said they presume ticket buyers will get their money back, although they could make no promises.
LAUREN STEUSSY can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.
