Less than two hours in advance, American singer Lizzo announced on Thursday that she had to postpone her concert at the Bell Center that same evening due to health reasons. Fans of the artist, who were hit by La Presse when they heard the news, were torn between disappointment and frustration.
Updated yesterday at 11:12pm.
Outside the Bell Center, Thursday night, the mines are low. Little girls are in tears. Lizzo fans exchange incredulous looks, ticket in hand, not sure what to do. Others are downright frustrated and let it be known. Security forces tell everyone at the entrance to the arena that the singer’s concert has just been postponed to an unknown date.
The announcement was made by the artist around 6:30 p.m., and according to evenko, an email was sent to the ticket holders “within twenty minutes”. “By doctor’s orders, Lizzo will not be able to present her show tonight. A new show date will be announced shortly,” the Montreal promoter said around 7 p.m. Thursday as the Bell Center doors were due to open. The concert was scheduled to start at 8 p.m., with a performance by rapper Latto as the opening act.
“I understand that artists have to cancel, but I don’t understand that it’s done when everyone is on their way to come. Not everyone lives in downtown Montreal. People were spending, paying for parking, paying for hotels. We didn’t know [que le spectacle était reporté]. We got the email but I just saw her and was long gone anyway,” explains Christine, who is from Mascouche and met shortly after the message.
At his side, Nathalie explains that the e-mail went to him anyway. Between the two women, Alexis, 10, and Zoé, 9, look sad. Then the youngest begins to cry.
“We rented a hotel right next door so we didn’t have to pay for parking and so the girls didn’t lack sleep,” Christine continues, comforting the little one.
It was for our parties. We will be refunded. We are no longer tempted.
Christina
Other people interviewed by La Presse share this sense of disappointment mixed with frustration. “It’s normal,” says Mélanie, who traveled from Quebec to attend the concert surrounded by her group of friends. I won’t come back, I’ll give away my tickets. »
evenko is asking fans to “keep their tickets valid for the new show date,” but some people are already considering reselling their tickets or getting a refund for their tickets. “We’ll see if we can resell them. We are very disappointed and saddened by this experience,” says Addie. The young man and his friend are from Toronto. They spent five hours on the train Thursday specifically to attend Lizzo’s concert and are scheduled to leave the following morning. “With all the logistics and money it costs to come here, we won’t be coming back,” he adds. We’ve been planning this for months, we don’t even know what we’re going to do with the rest of our evening. Montreal is a very beautiful city, but we came for Melissa [le vrai prénom de Lizzo]. »
A Lizzo too ill to perform
“This is the second time in my entire career that I have had to cancel a performance due to health reasons. I’ll pick myself up, I promise you, Montreal. I’m sorry,” said Lizzo, who was lying under a blanket, a mask on her face and looking weakened, in a minute-long video she shared on her Instagram account in the evening, a few hours after the moment we waited for it have him on the bell center stage.
She had been ill since the previous day, woke up with even worse symptoms and needed to rest, she said.
The popular About Damn Time singer was scheduled to take the Bell Center stage as part of her special tour, which has taken her to many cities in North America and Europe over the past few months.
“Hello Montreal. I had a headache yesterday, I went to bed. But I woke up this morning and it was worse, I had chills and my head hurts, ”explains Lizzo in her Instagram video and gasps.
“If it’s just a cold, I usually wash, eat and it gets better. But things got worse. I think it’s the flu. I have to make the sad decision to cancel [le concert] Today. I want to find a new appointment. But I can’t perform tonight. »
It’s a disappointment on top of the disappointment already experienced by the singer’s admirers in 2020, when the Osheaga Festival, which she headlined, was canceled due to the pandemic.
In response to his video on Thursday, many people, including Montreal fans, wished him a speedy recovery. At the entrance to the Bell Center, Jillian and Leah also say they are compassionate five minutes after learning there would be no show. “It’s a shame but we’ve seen her Instagram and she looks so sick… What can she do? Sick on stage? says Jillian, who wanted to attend her first concert at the Bell Centre.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Leah and Jillian
The latter, originally from the United States, is leaving Montreal soon, knowing that she will not be able to return to attend the concert once a new date is announced.
She had bought the tickets for my birthday. It was our last big date together before she left. The tickets are from a resale site so we don’t know what we will do with them.
Leah
Melissa, who lives in Ottawa, is in Montreal with her friends Marie-France, Kimberly and Stephanie to see Lizzo, but decides not to let the bad news spoil her evening. “We’re gonna have a good time with friends we haven’t seen in a long time… and it’s about damn time,” she laughs, referencing Lizzo’s song. “It’s okay, we’ll try to get to the next concert, even if it’s difficult because we all have children. »
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Kimberly, Melissa, Stephanie and Marie France
Montreal native Laila Chaudhry, who celebrated her birthday on Thursday, is another Lizzo fan who is smiling at the news despite the disappointment. Surrounded by her friends, she says the group will surely go on a pub crawl to balance the evening. “It would have been nice to see her, but it’s a shame. After the new date we would like to come back. »