Sting's Manila Concert Moved To Araneta Coliseum

The Manila leg of the "Sting: Back to Bass Tour" will be held at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, according to an announcement on Sting's official website.

The concert was previously scheduled at the SM Mall of Asia Arena. The show date will still be on December 9th, 2012.

Those who have purchased their tickets will be receiving comparable tickets for the new venue. A special window at the Ticketnet Office located at the Araneta Coliseum will be opened to cater ticket exchanges starting October 25th.

Tickets for Sting's concert at the Araneta Coliseum will be available at all Ticketnet outlets on the 25th as well. Their prices remain unchanged --P15,840 (VIP); P10,560 (Patron); P7,920 (Lower Box A); P5,810 (Lower Box B); P3,700 (Upper Box); and P1,030 (General Admission).

According to SM MoA, it has "exhausted all measures" for the concert to push through at SM Arena but it was Sting's "own decision" to change the venue. This is reportedly after the singer, also a known environmental activist, learned about the SM Baguio controversy.

Back in April, SM Baguio received protests after it allegedly cut more than a hundred pine trees for its expansion. The mall, however, said that what it did was uproot the trees utilizing the balling out method and planted them in a different location.

It was Cheryl L. Daytec-Yangot, former legal counsel of the group Project Save 182 who filed a case against SM for its Baguio branch’s redevelopment plan, who informed Sting's camp about the environmental issue and appealed that the venue be changed.

"I wrote a letter to Sting’s agents appealing that they abandon SM-Mall of Asia Arena as the venue for the musician’s December concert. Sting, a voice of the oppressed, cannot sing in the halls of the oppressor," Daytec-Yangot wrote on her Facebook.

In a press release, SM MoA said: "The SM MOA Arena has nothing to do with the case in Baguio except for the fact that it is also under the same holding company as the Baguio branch. However, with this letter to Sting, it seems that the activists behind Project Save 182 are bent on taking down the SM brand in general."

It added: "With this successful move to stop Sting from holding the concert at SM MOA Arena, and referring to the venue as an 'oppressor', it is now looking more like the court battle has extended from saving trees, to ruining a corporate giant’s reputation completely."