Now This Just Sucks .........

[hiddenlegions]

HALFORD Frontman Denied Entry Into U.S., West Coast Tour Postoned - Dec. 28, 2002

HALFORD have been forced to postpone their scheduled three-date West Coast tour until late January after frontman Rob Halford was denied entry into the United States from London, England due to his work visa not being thoroughly processed by The United States Immigration & Naturalization Service (INS).

The following is HALFORD's official statement on the matter:

"Last evening (Friday, December 27, 2002), Rob Halford was denied entry into the United States from London, England due to his work visa not being thoroughly processed by The United States Immigration & Naturalization Service (INS).

"Further, Rob's immigration attorneys are unable to begin resolving the matter until January 2, 2003, but they do expect the matter will be resolved on or before January 15, 2003. As a result, the HALFORD/TESTAMENT dates in Las Vegas, San Diego and Anaheim — December 29, 31 & Jan. 2 — will be rescheduled for late January — during the Super Bowl period.

"We are extremely disappointed — as is everyone who purchased tickets and traveled in to Las Vegas, etc., to see the bands. We will work as fast as possible to get the rescheduled dates announced this coming week, and hope that you will consider attending the rescheduled performance(s).

"If you have traveled into Las Vegas from afar, please contact HALFORD management directly at HalfordRob@aol.com and let us forward to you a complimentary item from the HALFORD web site, and an invitation to meet HALFORD when they are performing closer to your city during their 2003 tour.

"HALFORD will depart on its Japan tour immediately following the late January/early February U.S. dates. For more information on HALFORD touring, please visit www.RobHalford.com."

.................................


Well, there goes the hotel room I already paid for and all the arrangements I made. This is probably the most disappointing thing that has happened to me in a very long time ...

 

[hiddenlegions]

Thanks to ROB HALFORD and the INS , I have now just lost $117.00 on my room . I just got of the phone with the mandalay bay reservations and they won't refund my money. (it's now 11pm Saturday). Not to mention the vacation days I took off already from work ... Thanks Rob..... I know it's not Testament's fault at all ..... Too bad Testament couldn't have just taken over the mini-tour and kept whatever money Halford would have gotten. ARRRGHGHGHGHG

 

[hiddenlegions]

I bet there are many others who have a worse story. I heard that there are people that have flown into Vegas and are already there. Luckily (if you can call it that) I heard before I was going to leave. What a shame, pain in the ass, and inconveinace all over one guy ............. Sounds fishey to me ........... What do you guys think? The people on the HALFORD message board are PISSED. And many of them think this is BS and that there is more to this than meets the eye. I'd love to hear what TL or Deadly Embrace have to say. The band (Testament) must be bummed as well.............

 

[toilethead]

I heard a rumor last night that the shows "might" go on with Testament & Vio-lence... so hold your horses, keep your fingers crossed and wait to see what the other bands say!

 

[hiddenlegions]

But if that's the case, and the Vegas one does go on like that it would be nice to know sometime today to allow the travel to vegas. Unless you mean the San Diego and OC show ... I kind of doubt it thought because I called the House of Blues in Vegas and it they told me directly that the show is cancelled, there are no other acts playing tonight.

 

[LIZ METAL]

That's a hard shaft/steel-toe kick to the balls/pimp-slap in the face, now isn't it?

Hey Hidden....get you reschedule your reservations...keep everything the same and just change the date you'll check in?

 

[hiddenlegions]

Hey Liz, yeah , I finally got them to work it out to when I know the date at the end of January , they will go ahead and apply it. I got that worked out after I posted that. So now I guess we all just wait for the word from the Testament camp to let us know what date they will be playing ............

 

[aztattooedsean]

I am one of the fools that drove 5 hours from Phoenix to Vegas only to find out the next night 3 hours prior to concert that it had been postponed. No one played, I didn't know whether to be pissed or just shocked as my trip was a waste. I am not a gambler so it wasn't like I was going to bore myself going from casino to casino .

Is the Phoenix show still a go as I could care less really about Halford. I mainly want to see testament,vio-lence and exhumed.

 

[a guy...]

Okay, Rob is NOT to blame on this, chalk it up to INS failings to get the visa situation sorted out.

 

[a guy...]

Straight from John Baxter, as seen on www.robhalford.com
..........................................................................

Let me start by saying Rob and I are stunned and embarrassed with what has taken place re: this matter. Furthermore, everyone’s critique - pro or con - is justified and deserved.

For more than 25 years we have never experienced a difficulty in obtaining Rob’s necessary work / visitors visas for any country he has visited.

As a point of reference re: this matter, I’ve posted below - Rob’s Case Status with the INS - taken from their web site.

As you’ll note, Rob’s application was submitted in early September. Over the last 10 years, the application process ran roughly 20 - 30 days, but I’m told the 9/11 crackdown on the INS department is the cause for applications taking longer than normal to approve.

Our immigration attorneys and I reviewed this matter on October 25th and again on October 30th. We were told both times by INS that Rob’s visa would be processed immediately, and he was legally qualified to work in the U.S. Because of the INS assurance - the matter fell off our radar scope.

What we didn’t know was that when Rob departed the U.S. for England in early December to visit with family during the holidays; the protection Rob enjoyed while in the U.S.; as his case was pending; was immediately revoked upon his departure from the U.S.

Jumping forward to Friday, December 27th, Rob, band & crew were traveling into the Los Angeles and Las Vegas areas for the scheduled dates. In Rob’s case, he was confronted by a very aggressive INS agent that didn’t care how many O-1 Visas (U.S. Outstanding Performers Class Visa) Rob possessed in years past, and he didn’t care that Rob’s current visa application was in pending status w. INS. The agent (who was clearly doing his job) took the position that Rob’s visa renewal had not yet been approved, and he was attempting to re-enter the U.S. on an expired visa.

Rob was fingerprinted, retina scanned, photographed, and interrogated. He was given the voluntary option of boarding a flight to London in 20 minutes. If he refused, the INS agent told him he would deport Rob, place him on the same flight, and with the deportation status - Rob would not be allowed back into the U.S. for up to 5 years. Rob gladly accepted the terms to immediately return to London - and enjoyed as best he could - the round-trip 25 hour journey in and out of the U.S.

I was notified of the matter after Rob’s plane departed (he was not allowed to make telephone calls while in INS custody). I worked 20 hours straight in trying to secure the processing of Rob’s visa w. his immigration attorneys. There were several optimistic moments during that period; which led myself, and others involved, to believe Rob would be granted his emergency visa and could re-board another flight to the U.S. Ultimately, however, we were told we would have to wait until January 2 when the California INS processing office could address the matter.

By taking the INS offer, Rob avoided the heavy deportation penalty, but will be delayed from entering the U.S. for a period of 7 - 15 days.

This matter has inconvenienced dozens (financially and otherwise) within / associated w. Halford - as well as each individual that made plans to attend the shows. The weight of everyone’s losses has made this matter that much more difficult to stomach.

But we will move forward by having Rob’s matter resolved in the next 2 weeks; and we’ll reschedule the existing dates for late January and work on adding Los Angeles to the routing as well. Those of you that traveled in for any of the shows; Halford will provide you w. free admission to any one of the rescheduled dates; or a future Halford show date that may be closer to your home city.

Again, we are red-faced, but determined to make up for our lack in judgement re: this matter. We apologize to each person inconvenienced and ask that you allow us to make matters up to you as best we can.

Finally, Rob will be addressing this matter w. everyone later today, but please feel free to comment as you see fit - below.

Thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.

Best Regards,

John Baxter

 

[MindInsane]

Sean and Hidden Legions I'm sorry you guys had to go through that dissapointment! I feel for both of you! I'm glad you didn't lose your $$ to the hotel! That woulda sucked! They will re-schedule and you'll get to see them...BELIEVE me it'll be completely worth it!

 

[MindInsane]

Originally posted by tattooedsean666

Is the Phoenix show still a go as I could care less really about Halford. I mainly want to see testament,vio-lence and exhumed.

It's happening as we speak Sean...hope you're there!

 

[hiddenlegions]

Hey MI , thanks alot. I am just anxiously awaiting the "re-scheduled" dates so I can get the approriate vacation days off. I would assume that the Phoenix show will be it for Testament until the re-scheduled dates surface. I honestly can't wait till TL or Deadly Embrace post something regarding this but I'm sure they will as soon as they can.

 

[glennsmetal]

I flew alll the way from Portland, spent $175.00 on my plane fair to Vegas only to find out this wasn't happening after I already go there. I then proceeded to drive home from Vegas wtih Metalmom. THANK YOU metalmom. Pest and Deadly are my witness as to me being in Portland for the Testament show. I had already been gone for 10 days from home, and was really looking forward to the show in Vegas only to find out there's no show. How dissapointing. There's no way I can make it back to Vegas in that period of time. It's too close and to expensive. But I still had fun. I was just dissapointed after being gone from home for slong, that was not a good way to end the holidays.

GLENN

 

[aztattooedsean]

I hope they hook me up with a future Phoenix date as I too probably won't be able to take off again for another vegas date

As for tonights show, it was great. Testament kicked ass!! Poor vio-lence was drummerless as perry had to go to hospital. Phil played drums for a few songs and someone else played for serial killer. they were very disappointed.

My luck for vio-lence was not meant to be this weekend but both bands still kick major ass!!

 

[desert_demon]

If you think any of you guys were dissapointed, imagine me who made a 2 day journey by bus to see the Vegas show only to find out at the House of Blues box office that Rob wasn't coming due to him being "snowed in and his airplane not being able to take off". What a lie!!! It's only now when I logged on to the message board that I found out the true story regarding Halford's visa. I was bummed out beyond words as were many other pissed of fans. I can't really call it a total waste since I did have fun in Vegas the short time I was there but all of Vegas doesn't compare to a night of metal with Halford and Testament.

 

[ChaosWithoutProphecy]

FUCK!!!! having Testament postponed is not the way to start off the new year at all. Forget halford, testament should headline the rest of the dates without him. that would solve the problem

 

[Insania]

I was in the same boat, having taken my wife to Vegas with me, so you can imagine how much money and time was blown...

Turned me into an alcoholic for the rest of the trip! Vegas does nothing for me. Its almost OK, but only once every ten years. I'll be ready for another three days of darkness again in 2012...

So long as Chuck and Testament keep to their word that Testament will be back in Sacramento this summer, I'll recover from this. That show was great, hope it was the highlight of their mini-tour.

Thrasher