The state and promoters have come to an understanding on December's M.C. Hammer concert in Boise where two other acts failed to show up with the rap star.
Rapper Vanilla Ice was advertised as the opening act. And En Vogue, a vocal quartet, was announced by a radio station that carried much of the concert advertising.Tickets were $20, the highest charged in Boise to that point.
Boise State University officials found out the day of the show that Hammer would be the only act. Announcements were made outside the Pavilion that night that refunds would be made.
Nearly 1,000 people took advantage of the offer. Still, the attorney general's office and the Pavilion were flooded with calls of protest.
Brett DeLange, the deputy attorney general who heads the Consumer Protection Unit, said his investigation revealed that Ice's burgeoning popularity prompted him to ask for more money.
A.H. Inc., the promoter, which is based in Newton, Mass., cited Ice's contract and refused, DeLange said. Ice then left the tour about Dec. 3.
At that point, the Pavilion and the public should have been informed, DeLange said. En Vogue also left, as scheduled in their contract.
A.H. denied all charges of misrepresentation. The company also denied that En Vogue was ever advertised as being on the bill, DeLange said.
Still, A.H. agreed to reimburse the attorney general's office $5,000 for investigation expenses and donate $5,000 to the Boise State University Foundation scholarship fund, DeLange said.
Melissa Waters, 16, who attended the concert, said the reimbursement and donation were good ideas but still don't correct the wrong done.
"They're still not solving the problem," she said. "They didn't rip off the attorney general, and they didn't rip off BSU. They ripped us off. . . . I never would have paid $20 just to see (Hammer)."
DeLange said he found "consumer refunds would cost more than the value of the damages."
He added that the agreement "doesn't prevent anyone from going after (the promoter) privately under the Consumer Protection Act."