Nathan Carter meet and greet drama explodes as hotel and star blame each other

Irish Daily Mirror

7 hours ago

A dramatic fallout has erupted between country music star Nathan Carter and The Balmoral Hotel, after an advertised meet and greet left fans disappointed and both sides pointing fingers.
The Wagon Wheel singer headlined Feile an Phobail's Country Festival in Belfast's Falls Park on Saturday night. The sell-out event was part of the wider arts festival and also featured performances from The Whistlin' Donkeys, Ultimate Eagles and Claudia Buckley.
But while thousands were enjoying the show, confusion was brewing elsewhere - namely at The Balmoral Hotel on the outskirts of Belfast city, where a free 'Nathan Carter Meet and Greet' had been promoted as part of the hotel's new Cargo Cult Smokehouse launch.
Posting on Instagram on Sunday afternoon, Nathan, 35, addressed the situation directly. He said: "Hi everyone, just jumping on to say a massive thanks to everyone who attended the Feile in Belfast last night. The best gig of the year so far, over 10,000 people and the atmosphere was incredible."
He clarified the controversy surrounding the advertised meet and greet, saying: "Now, regarding the meet and greet which was advertised for the Balmoral Hotel yesterday with myself, it's something that I was never booked for and apologies to people who did turn up. When I got to Belfast I headed straight over and I met a few people at the hotel, but obviously missed an awful lot of people that had been there, so apologies about that. But unfortunately, it's something, as I say, that I was never officially booked for and it was advertised, so hope you all had a good time anyway at the Feile." Country singer, Nathan Carter (Image: Instagram)
The Balmoral Hotel swiftly responded with a no-holds-barred Facebook post that claimed the event had been arranged, and confirmed, through Carter's official promoter.
"Let's clear a few things up, shall we?" the hotel began. "As a proud sponsor of this year's Feile, we at The Balmoral Hotel were genuinely excited to host a FREE 'Nathan Carter: MEAT and Greet' event for the launch of our new Cargo Cult Smokehouse. This was booked and confirmed for us on Saturday 25th July via Joe Gallagher Entertainment, named as the official promoter for Nathan Carter's show. We were told that Nathan would be arriving on Saturday 2nd August any time between 4pm and 6pm."
The hotel said they had only 250 free tickets - which "went within hours" - and claimed they reconfirmed the booking even after being asked to "take the post down by Nathan's team", who were reportedly "getting requests from other businesses for meet and greets".
They detailed extensive preparations, including shutting the car park, bringing in extra staff, providing free food, live music, a DJ, photographer, videographer and even a shuttle bus.
The Balmoral alleged: "At 5pm, we got word from the promoters that Nathan would be arriving at 8pm, which overlapped with the start time of the Feile concert. We informed guests about this and let them decide what to do. Some stayed, some understandably couldn't and headed to the concert. We kept the energy up, and Nathan eventually arrived just before 10pm, posed for photos, and then headed to the show." The Balmoral Hotel in Dunmurry on the outskirts of Belfast city (Image: Google Maps)
The Balmoral Hotel then hit back at Nathan's social media claim: "Now here's the twist: Today, Nathan Carter posted a story on social media saying we never booked him. We're just going to say this: Maybe, just maybe, his teams should start talking to each other, because from where we're standing, this was very much booked and we planned every last detail around it. We're not in the business of drama, but we are in the business of hospitality and we're proud of the effort our team put in to make something special (and free) for our community."
The hotel closed their statement with some cheeky final words: "To our guests: thank you. To our team: legends. To Nathan: next time, we're booking Daniel O'Donnell. With love, The Balmoral Hotel."
The hotel's post has since gone viral, with thousands of likes and hundreds of comments - many focused on the playful jab at the end.
One person wrote: "Savage put down!" Another added: "Daniel is the cats pyjamas, I'd be over like a shot."
A third said: "Please book Daniel. I love Daniel O'Donnell."
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