For all who were attending, and fans following any activity online, this morning’s message, ‘We regret to inform you that the Jerry Seinfeld shows have been cancelled due to issues related to traffic and parking’ is what the anticipation has boiled down to. Before you try reading into it, consider the reason again. Traffic and parking.
Reports surfaced earlier in the week had reported trouble brewing. Most discussion point to appropriate parking for an expected audience of 5000. All the while, it was confirmed and re-confirmed that all required permissions had been sought, and attained. To that end, parking space at a nearby mall too had been booked so traffic and parking issues do not arise.
Jerry Seinfeld shows were scheduled for this weekend (Saturday, March 14 and Sunday, March 15). Seinfeld was scheduled to reach Mumbai this evening for the single shows scheduled for tomorrow and day after, but did not begin his scheduled trip. As an afterthought, organisers thought of hosting both shows on Sunday itself, since the original logistical arrangement had been delayed by a day. In the meantime, reasons cited for the mess began increasing. In addition to expected traffic and parking bottlenecks, hosting an event at the NSCI on weekends was also listed as a problem. The latter is fraught with inconsistency considering the venue has hosted other events on a weekend.
Finally, permissions were given, but it came too late resulting in Seinfeld being unable to be in Mumbai on time. Alternatives were to postpone show dates to Monday, which was not possible as the artiste wasn’t going to be in Mumbai beyond show dates. Tickets purchases will be refunded in full latest by Wednesday, March 25. So, while suitable alternate parking and traffic plans were arranged in short time, all efforts have come to naught.
