“HOW come Scarborough gets Elton John and the Barbican has the same old inferior acts?” wrote a contributor (Letters, May 20).

Answer – Scarborough has an enormous capacity many times that of the Barbican, and tickets priced £55 to £75.

The Barbican needed an event to dust off the cobwebs and 1,500 seats were filled with happy people. This night was all about York. Tickets were priced at £3 and £5 – £52 cheaper than Elton’s bargain seats.

I was the first man to stand on the Barbican stage in 1990 and was honoured to be asked to reopen it. All ten of the band and crew gave their time and talents in aid of the Lord Mayor’s charities.

It has been my honour to feature some of the finest musicians in the area – few bands could show up George Hall on keys or Dave Kemp on sax.

Sorry for only being able to sell every seat in the venue, sorry for the guys all giving our time for nothing while raising more than £8,000 for charity. Sorry for not being Elton John.

I await another letter – “Why don’t U2 come to Huntington Club?”

Ian Donaghy, Heslington, York.

• The person named as the writer of the original letter tells us he did not write it (correction, May 24).