The influential New York trio, responsible for such hits as Me Myself and I, The Magic Number and Say No Go, will perform at the Lake Wanaka Centre on May 13.
However, Revolver shareholder Johno Stapleton said the biggest international music act to perform in the district could not play in Queenstown because the Memorial Hall was booked for the month.
Lakes Leisure quoted a fee of about $4000 for the 2000-standing people capacity Queenstown Events Centre auditorium and the Queenstown Lakes District Council-controlled organisation also wanted 100% of the bar takings, which Mr Stapleton estimated would amount to $15,000 and be vital to the viability of staging the show.
In contrast, the smaller Lake Wanaka Centre, which could cater for 650 standing patrons, charged $700 for the night and did not request bar proceeds.
"We're a Queenstown-based business and we wanted to bring [De La Soul] here for the community, but we just couldn't. The costs Lakes Leisure wanted for the events centre were ridiculous and they pretty much said they wanted to do only five major events a year."
Events manager Karen Gemmell said the QEC auditorium charge for commercial operators was $3500 plus GST per day, in line with similar-sized venues per square metre.
Lakes Leisure, as part of its operations and liquor licence, takes 100% of the QEC's bar takings to support the operation of the community facility.
Ms Gemmell said she supported what Mr Stapleton was doing in bringing major acts to the resort, but the concert would have bumped residents out of the auditorium for more than two days.
Tickets for the Wanaka gig on May 13 cost $65 and went on sale last Friday.
Of the 650 tickets on sale, over a hundred were still available yesterday.
