The following is a post from Araneta Coliseum’s official Facebook page:

So there you have it. The concert is postponed until further notice. Please refer to the above post for your inquiries and concerns. Thank you.

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OK. After fulfilling my All Saints’ Day obligations, I finally was able to ponder more clearly on this new development.

According to the above notice from Araneta Coliseum and the producers of Rise2Shine, the concert was merely “postponed to a later date” (first quarter of 2018) and the artists line-up will be the same. However, per the notice from Rain Company (please scroll down to the notice dated November 1, 2017), Rain will not be participating anymore because (and I quote from the notice), “As the organizer; KO- Ph. has been dishonest in fulfilling the performance contract, we have come to the decision that it is impossible to go ahead with the performance. Our decision is therefore “not to participate in the performance”. The rest of the notice is basically telling people to claim refunds, which is tantamount to saying that should the concert pushes through in the future, Rain is out of the artists line-up.

Thus, people were more confused than ever.

This is just my opinion, and my position as a consumer: I will claim my refund instead of waiting it out. If the concert subsequently pushes through next year and Rain is still on the roster, I’ll just buy again. I’m not rich enough to be putting my money on hold for something uncertain as this one. Sure, it might also mean I am donating my money for the beneficiaries – which, incidentally, includes the aforementioned KO-Ph – but if I want to donate for the rehabilitation of Marawi, there are other ways to do so.

I just feel sad and disappointed for my fellow Clouds who have been waiting for this moment for seven years.

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A random thought.

I’ve been seeing comments along the lines of, “the announcement of the cancellation was so last minute.”

I guess the ones commenting are new to the fandom? If you think two days is “last minute”, what do you call the events in LA where the cancellation announcement was made barely a couple of hours before the actual concert, when all the ticket holders were already queued at the venue?

All other speculations are a bit off-hand, too. Like:

a. Kim Tae Hee just gave birth – ahm, her due date has been determined months before. He would know that by the time this concert rolls in, his wife would’ve given birth already. If it’s a factor to the decision, he would’ve not accepted the show in the first place.

b. He’s busy with The Unit/album comeback – same as (a). Those schedules have been fixed months ago, prior to the announcement of this concert. If those are factors to the decision, he should’ve not accepted the show in the first place.

Honestly, speculations (a) and (b) are not helping Rain at all and are actually making him look bad. If you’re a fan, stop saying those things.

As for speculations about ticket sales… well, it’s a benefit concert. I think ticket sales as basis for cancellation should be the least of their concerns. Again, that’s just making Rain look bad.

From what I heard from sources which are far more reliable than fan speculations, it’s really a contractual issue between Rain Company and one of the organizers. Nobody is lying in their respective official statements. Just take it as it is, for once, and let’s refrain from overthinking.