A Hong Kong concert promoter has dismissed claims in an official report that she requested a US$2 million fee for bringing the Rolling Stones to the city for Harbour Fest last year. An independent panel's report into the festival, released last week, said Colleen Ironside of Live Entertainment 'asked to be paid a promoter fee of US$2 million to stage the Stones'. The panel said it was told of the fee by American Chamber of Commerce official Jon Niermann during interviews for the inquiry. Speaking from Bangkok, where she was on business last week, Ms Ironside insisted: 'We [Live Ltd] did not ask for a US$2 million promoter's fee. Do you think we are nuts? 'If I could make US$2 million out of doing a show I would be retired already. I don't know any promoter in the world who makes US$2 million from a show.' Ms Ironside said no promoter's sum was ever mentioned during negotiations over the group's appearance at Harbour Fest and negotiations had not reached the fee stage before they broke down. The Harbour Fest report devotes a chapter to the hiring of the Rolling Stones, pointing out that Ms Ironside first approached InvestHK for government sponsorship to stage a Rolling Stones concert in October or November under the post-Sars economic package. She had requested sponsorship of about $6 million for a single show at the Hong Kong Stadium, the report said, having earlier been the promoter for a show that had been aborted because of the Sars outbreak. Ms Ironside was referred to the Harbour Fest organising committee, which held talks with her before speaking directly to the Rolling Stones management and effectively cutting Ms Ironside out of the deal. The panel report said it had been given 'conflicting stories' by the American Chamber of Commerce officials and Ms Ironside about the negotiations and it was not possible to say why they had collapsed. The report said it was 'undisputed' that Ms Ironside had initiated the idea of the Stones coming to Hong Kong after the Sars outbreak and that she had cleared the idea with the band's management before contacting InvestHK. 'In the panel's view, it is developments such as these ... that might have contributed towards strained relations between the Harbour Fest organisers and local concert promoters, and members of the local entertainment industry.' An industry source who read the report said he believed the panel report might have confused the concept of a promoter's fee with a sponsorship fee, which would have included the amount for which the government would be prepared to underwrite the concert. 'The report makes a reference to a US$2 million promoter fee and then three paragraphs later makes reference to a US$2 million sponsorship fee, which suggests they were unaware of the distinction.' Ms Ironside declined to speculate on how the figure had got into the report. 'It is all in the past now, it is irrelevant,' she said.
