The Montreal International Jazz Festival (FIJM) has had to revise its closing show to the extreme after American singer Macy Gray’s performance on Saturday night’s Place des Festivals was cancelled.
The FIJM announced this on Tuesday evening in its social networks without giving the reasons. “It’s just a postponement,” the organization added on its Facebook page. The Spectra team in charge of the FIJM, along with Le Devoir, could not provide specific reasons for the show’s cancellation.
“It’s not a health issue, it’s an issue of the agenda,” the organization’s communications department said via email. Therefore, “Macy Gray will not be attending the 43rd edition of FIJM for reasons beyond our control,” adds Équipe Spectra.
The soul and R&B singer, who has sold more than 25 million albums since the release of her debut album On How Life Is in 1999, will be replaced on the main stage of the outdoor festival by Canadian funk band The Brooks, formed in Montreal in 2013. Joining the group on stage are singer-songwriter Dominique Fils-Aimé, who is set to release a fourth album this fall, and Montreal singer Hanorah, who draws influences from Joss Stone and Amy Winehouse in particular.
NOTICE ????
The Brooks prepare a Montreal funk party on stage to conclude the festival @TD_Bank with Dominique Fils-Aimé Hanorah ????
Unfortunately Macy Gray is unable to participate this year for reasons beyond our control. pic.twitter.com/0Fq1WYBzHf
— Mtl Jazz Festival (@mtljazzfestival) July 4, 2023
It’s not the first time a Montreal performance by Macy Gray, who won a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance in 2001 for her song “I Try,” has been canceled.
On June 30, 2022, a show she was scheduled to perform with Joss Stone at the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The singer also canceled an appearance on the L’Olympia stage in August 2013, this time because plans for the release of her next album were still unclear.
The singer’s upcoming performances are scheduled for July 8 in Lincoln, California and October 8-10 in New York and Norfolk, Virginia.
To see in the video