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Aerosmith fans filed a class action lawsuit against the rock band after it canceled a concert in Maui, HI for a bigger venue in Chicago, IL. Aerosmith canceled their sold out performance September 26, 2007 concert at Maui's War Memorial Stadium, but returned to Hawaii to perform at a Toyota car convention. Nearly 18,000 fans saw the band play in Chicago on September 24, 2007. The band claims they could not get their gear from Chicago in time for the island concert, which had sold out with about 10,000 tickets.

Steve Tyler PR Photos: Janet Mayer

However, a few days later, Aerosmith quietly slipped into Honolulu for a big private concert at the University of Hawaii. For its 50th anniversary, Toyota rented the campus for $500,000 and paid Aerosmith $1 million to perform a concert for its 6,000 car dealers and guests in the school's baseball stadium. The lawsuit was filed in Hawaii Circuit Court and seeks to represent and compensate fans for ticket and travel losses. The suit estimates the cancellation cost ticket buyers between $500,000 and $3 million in travel costs and other expenses to attend the concert. "Hawaii was the last stop of Aerosmith's tour. The Maui show was planned for Wednesday, September 26th and the private Toyota gig was set up for Saturdayâ€"three days later," says lawyer Brandee Faria. "And, as part and parcel of the Toyota gig, the band agreed they would not do a public performance on Oahu, which is where they were scheduled to perform for Toyota.

Given the restrictions by Toyota, Aerosmith arranged to do a concert in Maui on Wednesday night. "But only about 11 percent of the population of Hawaii lives on Maui, which meant that most of the fans would be coming from the outer islands," explains Faria. Unlike mainland concerts where most concerts can be attended for the price of a ticket and a tank of gas, people coming from the outer islands would have to incur air flights, hotel accommodation and car rentals. And because fans would have to stay overnight, many would have to take time off work.

Faria has been contacted by dozens of people interested in joining the suit and at this point she says that her preliminary estimate regarding the out-of-pocket expense of most concertgoers was significantly understated. Based on the new information, it looks like most concertgoers are out-of-pocket between $400 and $900, much more than she originally estimated.

"On September 10, the band was scheduled to play Chicago but they cancelled the same day due to illness in the band," adds Faria. "A few days later they rescheduled their Chicago concert to Monday, September 24th. When they rescheduled, they knew they had to be in Maui September 26th. They could have rescheduled anytime after the 29th because that was the last day of their North America tour.

"Then, just days before the scheduled Maui concert, Aerosmith cancels. No reason given. This cancellation is before the scheduled Chicago concert. The next day, they announce that the concert is cancelled because they don't have enough time to get their equipment to Hawaii. Why didn't they cancel Chicago? Because Chicago seats 18,500 and Maui only seats 10,000. Do the math.

"If you do business in the state of Hawaii and you commit unfair or deceptive trade practices, then you can be held liable for triple the consumers' damages or $1,000, whatever is more. And if the consumer is 62 years old or older (which many Aerosmith fans may be) they get triple damages or $5,000 each. And we believe to have about 10,000 class members in this case," says Faria. Even assuming that all class members are only entitled to $1,000 x 10,000, that equals $10 million.

"The hundreds of dollars that each of Aerosmith's Hawaii fans have lost may seems like chump change to Aerosmith--but it is real money to most of our residents," she says. "Aerosmith caused these unnecessary expenses to be incurred, and they should be liable for the resulting damages." "Hawaii was the last facet of Aerosmith's tour so the Maui show was planned for Wednesday, September 26th and the private Toyota gig was set up for Saturdayâ€"three days later," explains lawyer Brandee Faria. "And, as part and parcel with the Toyota gig, the band agreed they would not do a public performance on Oahu, which is where they were scheduled to play the Toyota gig.

Aerosmith PR Photos: Adam Bielawski

As a consequence of canceling Oahu, Aerosmith arranged to do a concert in Maui on Wednesday night. "But only 11percent of the population of Hawaii lives on Maui, which meant that most of the fans would be coming from the outer islands," explains Faria. And people coming from the outer islands would have to incur air flights and hotel accommodation. And because fans would have to stay overnight, they would have to take time off work.

Faria has been contacted by dozens of people so far and at this point, her preliminary estimate is that concertgoers have incurred out-of-pocket expenses between $400 and $900, much more than she originally estimated.

"On September 10, the band scheduled to play Chicago and they also cancelled the same day due to illness in the band," adds Faria. "A few days later they rescheduled to Monday, September 24th. They knew they had to be in Maui September 26th and Ohau for their private gig September 29th. They could have rescheduled anytime after the 29th because that was the last day of their North America tour.

"Everything is hunkey dorey so far. About four days before the Maui concert, Aerosmith cancels. No reason given. The next day, they say the concert is cancelled due to logistics. But the logistics were already there. Why didn't they cancel Chicago? Because Chicago seats 18,500 and Maui only seats 10,000. Do the math.

"If you do business in the state of Hawaii and you commit unfair and deceptive trade practices, then you can be held liable for triple the consumers' damages or $1,000, whatever is more. And if the consumer is 62 years old or older (which could apply to some Aerosmith fans) they get triple damages or $5,000 each. And we have about 10,000 class members in this case.

Maybe the fact that all these people are out hundreds of dollars seems chump change to Aerosmith--but it means a lot of money to most of our residents."

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