When the news that one of the biggest concerts of the year was to be pulled less than a week before show time filtered through music blogs and online message boards, the fans were up in arms.

Prince had cancelled his massive gig at Croke Park. Tickets had been bought, flights, hotels, transport booked, plans made. A huge collective angry groan went up online, on radio shows, on the street, on text messages to friends and the next day in newspapers. People started semi-joking: "This is what it sounds like when Dubs cry."

Almost instantly, the collective finger of blame was pointed at MCD, the promoter of the gig. But gradually, a more complex picture emerg­ed. MCD laid the blame at Prince's door citing "reasons beyond the control of Prince and MCD Productions."

Rumours circulated last Monday afternoon about whether the gig was going ahead or not, and on Monday night MCD got the call that Prince was in fact cancelling the gig. His reasons for pulling out are still unclear. One senior music industry insider simply told the Sunday Tribune: "That's Prince. That's the artist you're dealing with."

In an unprecedented move, MCD also released the number of tickets sold – 55,161. Although MCD said the capacity was to be 62,000, which indicates that the gig would have been more or less sold out by Monday, Peter McKenna, stadium dir­ector of Croke Park, told the Sunday Tribune that he was "working off a capacity of 82,300." MCD have denied that figure. MCD spokesman Justin Green said that even though the capacity of the venue is over 82,000, different concerts staged there carry different capacities due to stage and seating arrangements.

On top of this confusion, there was a suggestion the gig mightn't have been taking place for some time. Goings on in the Prince camp with regards to his planned European tour have been strange to say the least. After announcing European dates after the Dublin concert was announced, he subsequently cancelled the rest of his so-called 'European tour'. Even now it's unsure as to what venues were actually confirmed. Dublin was the only concert left standing.

It would have been a big ask for an artist to bring over a huge stage production for just one gig. It is also not known whether Prince was to use the same stage as Neil Diamond, who played the same venue last night.

MCD has said plans are underway to reschedule the concert for 2009, but it is not yet clear whether that is possible. Insiders say MCD stand to lose "a fortune" on the cancellation although it is too early to tell whether they will sue or not. MCD paid Croke Park in ad­vance for the rental of the venue. Although Croke Park sources wouldn't reveal the exact cost of the rental, the Sunday Tribune was told it's "less than" what it costs to hire the stadium for rugby or soccer matches, which carry a price tag of €1.25m.

Organisers at Croke Park have also suffered a huge inconvenience. Peter McKenna said: "It's a temperamental business, and this is a whimsical decision as far as I can see it. We've had to cancel food orders, waiters, overnight clean­ing staff, security, and refund tickets for premium-seat holders. There is as much work to wind down from a non-event as there is for an event, but that's the vagaries of this business. I just hope MCD and Denis [Des­mond] were well-covered."

The details of the contract between MCD and Prince are unknown, but it is not unusual for large concerts of this nature to have a lot of exclusion clauses, including 'no show' insurance. In 2005, Eminem's Slane Castle concert was cancelled as the rapper's health and career were in meltdown and he cited "exhaustion" as the reason. MCD claimed losses of more than €2m and spent five years chasing Eminem through the courts in order to get their money back.

It is likely the promoter has incurred similar losses here. Prince himself had already been paid an undisclosed advance for the cancelled gig. Advertising industry experts who spoke to the Sunday Tribune estimated that MCD spent around €150,000 on pushing the gig across radio, press and TV. One expert, who wished to remain anonymous said: "Denis [Desmond] has access to screens in Abrakebabra, fly posters from Dublin City Council are free. If they had a media partner, then that would get them free ads in the press or radio. Outside of that, TV commercials, radio commercials, press ads – on average, you're probably looking at €150,000. When you add the freebies to that, the campaign for someone like Prince... is probably worth €200,000." Prince's booking fee alone is huge. He was recently paid €3m to play a US music festival.

MCD's rival Pod promotions also suffered a huge set-back this week, when one of their biggest gigs of the summer, MIA at Tripod, was pulled, along with the rest of her European tour. It was the second time MIA cancelled an Irish gig and, like the Prince concert, the blame is coming to rest on the artist's side. MIA gave a statement citing tiredness and saying she felt it more important to "be in the streets and go to the same shop every day and see the same people and, like, communicated."

She also said that it was hard to be "clubbing every night for six months," and concluded that she was pulling the tour because she'd prefer to "be gardening and get your nails done or something like that," which is scant consolation to those who had bought tickets to her gig.

While poor ticket sales may not be to blame for the cancellation of the Prince or MIA concerts, it is an important aside. Even though MCD's sales for Prince were down, the promoter would prefer to put the gig on and take a financial hit than pull it and lose face.

Elsewhere, it has been doom and gloom for promoters this summer. Some of the biggest gigs around just haven't sold. Only concerts from artists who make rare appearances on these shores (Celine Dion, Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits) or sure things with a massive and loyal fan base (Westlife, Bruce Springsteen) have sold out big shows. Other stars, who just 12 months ago would have been dead certs to sell out venues are becoming increasingly difficult to sell.

Even Electric Picnic has yet to sell out. Last year, the boutique festival in Stradbally, Co Laois, sold out in April. It received a boost this week, however, when 20 new artists were announced to play, stifling claims from some quarters that the line-up was too weak.