With less than two hours notice, American singer Lizzo announced Thursday that she had to postpone her concert at the Bell Center the same evening, due to health problems. Fans of the artist, met by La Presse when they heard the news, are torn between disappointment and frustration.
In front of the Bell Center, Thursday evening, the mines are low. Little girls are in tears. Fans of Lizzo exchange incredulous glances, their ticket in hand, not sure what to do. Others are downright frustrated and let it be known. Security guards announce to them all, when they arrive at the entrance to the arena, that the concert of the singer has just been postponed, to a later date still unknown.
The announcement was made by the artist around 6:30 p.m. An email was sent to ticket holders “within twenty minutes,” according to evenko. “By doctor’s order, Lizzo will be unable to perform her show tonight. A new show date will be announced shortly, “said the Montreal promoter around 7 p.m. Thursday, the time the doors of the Bell Center were 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 spent, paid for parking, paid for hotels. We didn’t know [that the show was postponed]. We received the email, but I just saw it and, anyway, we were already gone a long time, ”explains Christine, from Mascouche, met just after hearing the news.
At his side, Nathalie explains that the email had gone to his unwanted anyway. Between the two women, Alexis, 10, and Zoe, 9, look sad. The youngest then begins to cry.
“We just rented a hotel right next door so we don’t have to pay for parking and so the girls don’t miss sleep,” Christine continues, consoling the little one.
Other people interviewed by La Presse share this feeling of disappointment mixed with frustration. “It’s ordinary, says Mélanie, who arrived from Quebec to attend the concert, surrounded by her group of friends. I’m not going to come back, I’m going to give away my tickets. »
evenko asks fans “to keep their tickets which will be valid for the new show date”, but some people are already thinking of reselling or getting a refund for their tickets. “We’ll see if we can resell them. We are very disappointed and sad about this experience,” Addie said. The young man and his friend come from Toronto. They spent five hours on the train Thursday expressly to attend Lizzo’s concert and are due to leave the next morning. “With all the logistics involved and the money it costs to come here, we won’t be coming back,” he adds. We had 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 [Lizzo’s real name]. »
“This is the second time in my entire career that I have had to cancel a performance due to a health issue. I’ll pick myself up, I promise you, Montreal. I’m sorry,” Lizzo said, lying under a blanket, a mask over her face, looking weak, in a one-minute video she shared on her Instagram account late at night, hours from when we were waiting for him on the Bell Center stage.
Sick since the day before, she woke up with even more severe symptoms, and was forced to rest, she said.
The popular About Damn Time singer was to take the Bell Center stage as part of her Special tour, which has taken her to many cities in North America and Europe in recent months.
“Hi 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,” Lizzo also explains in her Instagram video, gasping.
“If it’s just a cold, normally I wash, eat and it gets better. But it got worse. I think it’s the flu. I have to make the sad decision to cancel [the concert] today. I want to find a date to reschedule. But I can’t perform tonight. »
It is a disappointment that adds to that already experienced by the admirers of the singer in 2020, when the Osheaga festival, where she appeared as a headliner, 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 that there would be no show. “It’s a shame, but we saw her Instagram and she looks so sick… What can she do?” Being sick on stage? says Jillian, who was going to attend her first concert at the Bell Centre.
The latter, originally from the United States, is leaving Montreal soon and knows that she will not be able to return to attend the concert when a new date is announced.
Ottawa resident Melissa is in Montreal with her friends Marie-France, Kimberly and Stephanie to see Lizzo, but decides not to let the bad news ruin 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, referring to Lizzo’s song. “It’s okay, we’ll try to come for the next concert, even if it’s difficult because we all have children. »
Montrealer Laila Chaudhry, whose birthday was Thursday, is another Lizzo fan who takes the news with a smile, despite the disappointment. Surrounded by her friends, she says the group will surely embark on a pub crawl to make up for the evening. “It would have been nice to see her, but too bad. According to the new date, we would like to come back. »
