The Lady Gaga concert at the Grand Place, which is to promote the new joint CD with Tony Bennett, presents many economic benefits for the city of Brussels, stated Phil Close, a city cabinet member. The concert will only be open to subscribers of the mobile phone operator, Mobistar. Environmentalists are criticizing the privatization of this historical location for this event although they are not opposed to festivities as a whole.
Philippe Close stressed that this is not the first time that access to the Grand Place or other public places has been limited temporarily due to private events as was the case for a show by journalist Michel Drucker and the Taratata show on the Place des Palais.
According to Close, the booking of the Grand Place is for the shooting of a promotional video which will immediately promote Brussels through social media and morning TV shows
"My job is to bring tourists to the city and events like this are always in demand. We want Brussels overflowing with people and the hotels fully booked," he stated further.
(Source: Belga)
