The point of Saturday?s soca show was lost on people who complained that perennial favourite Allison Hinds did not perform, promoter David Frost claimed yesterday, adding ?it?s no big issue?.

Disappointed fans fumed as the Barbadian mega stars took the stage with the relatively unknown Keeann Walters as the lead female voice because the 30-something Hinds had cancelled. And while Mr. Frost ? whose Treble Clef Productions put on the show ? hinted that Ms Hinds? age and weight after pregnancy may be influencing the band?s lineup, he denied that she was out of the band completely.

Mr. Frost said: ?We hired Square One and Allison Hinds doesn?t have a band. Allison is a performer Square One and if she is not able to perform and if she is not able to do what Square One wants her to do, then fine they can put her on retirement until such time.?

?I agree with that, but I don?t think that anyone left the show feeling that they were cheated,? he said. ?I thought that Keeann (Walters) did a good job. I think that if you had good food and good music than I think the fact that Allison didn?t come shouldn?t be a problem. I don?t have a problem with that. I don?t think that people that were there really care and I am saying that Allison is a small thing.?

Mr. Frost added: ?The band has to survive and the band has to do what they have to do.?

However Mr. Frost did agree that all patrons would not be happy with the change in artists.

?If you have Allison who is not up to par as far as her physique, can?t say as far as her voice, and if you have had a baby and you still have baby fat on you,? he said.

?And you?re coming here to Bermuda and everybody is expecting you to be that slim nice looking ?winder? and you are not able to perform like that, then you are destroying the artist right there. And now you have been duped because when she comes on stage you say, now look at her. We understand Allison?s position and we think that she is pregnant again, but she has to move on.

?She is almost 40-something years old now, so she has to decide that if she wants a family she has to sacrifice something. And we can?t expect her as an artist to not pass the torch on.?

Mr. Frost explained that while Ms Hinds had performed with Square One at Barbados? Crop Over Festival earlier this month, it was only in smaller night clubs ? not at the bigger venues. In addition, Ms Walters is the featured singer on the group?s newest CD with Ms Hinds as a back-up singer.

Mr. Frost added that Treble Clef did not know that Allison or Little Rick were not coming until the last minute. Mr. Frost felt that the people who complained had entered the concert for free and were bitter.

?Most of these Bajans are being very facetious,? he said, ?They say it is Allison, but to me if the manager wasn?t coming that would have been a bigger loss to me than Allison, because he is the leader of the band and he sets the tempo.?

But Mr. Frost added that over the years he had become a little dismayed with Ms Hinds performance. ?To see Allison here a couple of years ago when she first came to Bermuda, she was like Keeann, exciting and all of that, but after a while Allison thought that this was all she needed to do to get by, it is unfortunate,? he said.

?But we talked to Andy and we told him what we want to do next year and if in the event that Allison can come, it is not going to mean that Keeann is not going to come because they will come together.

?She (Allison) won?t leave the band and she will be a part of the band for a long time and one of them will then take second fiddle on different appointments and it is just the way show business is.?

Mr. Frost added that he was happy regardless of how people felt. ?I can?t deal with individual?s feelings. I have to look at the big picture and that is what we done.? he said. ?With two and a half thousand people dancing and looking at Keeann, you didn?t see people saying where?s Allison.

?It is not a big issue and I think that maybe some people heard that Allison didn?t come, but if they followed Square One?s record they will find that Allison has been performing in Barbados, but she hasn?t been performing in competitions or anything like that there.?

Government?s Consumer Affairs Department said there had been no complaints about the show. A spokeswoman for the department said: ?We thought we would have one or two.?

But she said promoters needed to deliver on what was billed. She said: ?In Bermuda this seems to be becoming more of an issue now, I hear there was another one the other day. Maybe it?s something we need to get the word out to promoters, they need to deliver what they promise.?

She said generally victims of false advertising were entitled to compensation with a full refund if the entire event had been cancelled and a partial refund if there had been some sort of show. She said the crucial thing was the intention ? acts of God could not be helped but if there had been no intention to deliver then the consumer had a case.

Consumer Affairs could help mediate compensation but if the parties could not co-operate then such cases can end up in the courts, said the spokeswoman.