Angry mum complains to radio station after Prince, David Bowie and Freddie Mercury fail to show up to hoax gig

Prince and Freddie were promised to perform (Picture: REX Features)

An angry mum has blasted a radio station after she was fooled into taking the day off work to attend a gig that promised performances from David Bowie, Prince, and Freddie Mercury.

Unsurprisingly, all three were unable to perform from beyond the grave - with the whole hoax a part of JACKfm’s ‘Dead Good Live’ campaign.

The Oxfordshire station had promised a star studded gig - and even ran fake interviewers with the ‘stars’ in the run up to the event.

But mum-of-three Sarah Vermouth,46, has slammed the station after being duped by the hoax - and taking the day off work to attend.

She even drove around Oxford in a bid to find Haplington House, the fictional venue where the gig was supposedly due to take place.

David Bowie was due to perform too (Picture: REX Features)

Angry Sarah said: ‘I took the day off work and put my kids in the car and hoped to be able to buy tickets from a tout outside. It turns out the venue didn’t exist and the list of artists they had said would perform were all dead – how was I to know? It was an absolute waste of my day.’

But while the station has since apologised for the prank - they say that the lineup was quite the tell-tale sign of a set up.

JACKfm programme director Tim Parker said: ‘Dead Good Live was simply a way of being able to play three hours of live music from some of the best artists the world has ever seen.

‘We are sorry Sarah feels disappointed but do feel that we were clear and obvious from the outset. The venue was made-up, no tickets were ever available and all of the artists were dead.’

Awkward!

Breakfast presenter Caroline Verdon, who advertised the fictional gig on her show, added: ‘Our interviews with dead artists included Michael Jackson claiming to have spent the last seven years dressed as Mickey Mouse, Freddie Mercury officially renaming Queen “four old ladies still rocking” and John Lennon claiming to have been on a 36-year solid bender.

‘It was very tongue in cheek and could not have been clearer.’

We’re inclined to agree.