Performance by 'fake band' at Belfast Empire cancelled last minute

A performance by newly infamous 'fake band' Threatin scheduled to take place in the Belfast Empire on Sunday night has been cancelled at the last minute.

The group, which is made up of Jered Threatin and backing musicians, has gained internet notoriety for booking a UK tour made possible by the use of inflated social media likes and YouTube views.

In the blurb for Threatin featured on the Empire website, it explains how Jered Threatin plays every instrument on his recorded music himself and has "proven to be one of the most promising rock artists of the last decade".

Posting to its Twitter page on Sunday evening, Belfast Empire confirmed the management for Jered Threatin had contacted them earlier in the day to cancel the performance without offering a reason.

The venue said as it had been prepaid for the venue it would not be incurring any financial loss.

Online music magazine NME reported the band arrived to play gigs at venues in England with only a handful of punters in attendance - despite claims of pre-selling large numbers of tickets.

The group were booked to play at The Underworld, a venue in Camden, London.

A screen shotted message left by the venue on the Facebook page of Threatin reads "what happened to the 291 advanced ticket sales your agent said you'd sold? THREE PEOPLE turned up."

The band were also booked to play at the Exchange in Bristol, another event which drew a sparse audience.

In its statement on Sunday evening, the Belfast Empire wrote: "Staff had been scheduled to work tonight, a sound engineer had been booked and two support acts, Periapt and Red house have gone to a lot of trouble to play tonight. Because of this, we have decided to have the gig anyway. Admittance will be free of charge."

The Belfast Empire declined to comment further when contacted by the Belfast Telegraph on Sunday evening.