Prince's sister, Tyka Nelson, made the announcement in July: A Prince tribute concert Oct. 13 at the new U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
But a month before the much-ballyhooed show, the stadium doesn't have a signed contract and the Prince estate has not announced any acts or ticket information. To sell more than 40,000 seats for a concert in a football stadium usually requires months of promotion.
"There is not a contract yet. Discussions continue to finalize concert details," Michele Kelm-Helgen, chairwoman of the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority that oversees the Vikings stadium, said via e-mail on Tuesday.
Prince fans from around the world have been expressing their frustrations because they booked plane and hotel reservations planning to attend the concert, but they've been left in the dark about details.
"It's frustrating that I got this far into it, and there's a vacuum of information," said Ingrid Ostrom of Greensboro, N.C. She bought airline and Paisley Park tour tickets, made hotel reservations, and planned to take four days of unpaid leave from work and pull her 14-year-old son out of school to visit Minnesota. "There are other Prince tributes like Sheila E. in Cleveland, but Minneapolis is the important place to be. That has meaning."
L. Londell McMillan, one of two music advisers to the Prince estate, is ostensibly in charge of the U.S. Bank Stadium concert. He did not respond to e-mails or texts from the Star Tribune asking about the concert. But Sunday on Twitter, he wrote: "Big Week Ahead! #KeepTheFaith."
This came after a previous promise in August of ticket information being announced after Labor Day. But there has been no word — just vague postings by McMillan on Twitter.
Since Prince was found dead of an accidental painkiller overdose on April 21, there has been much confusion about his heirs and estate. Working with Bremer Bank as estate manager, Prince's six siblings have turned to McMillan and veteran music-business executive Charles Koppelman, who has recently been involved with the careers of Adam Levine and Nicki Minaj, as paid consultants on how to exploit the assets of Prince's estate, which has been valued from $100 million to $300 million.
