Key Takeaways:
- Thousands of fans were disappointed and dejected at the Rogers Centre due to the widespread Rogers network outage, which prevented it.
- The Rogers Centre also announced that it would honor any tickets already purchased and provide details on a new concert date as soon as it was practical.
- The Weeknd will start his 19-date North American tour the following week in the US before stopping at Vancouver’s BC Place on August 25.
The Weeknd’s world tour was supposed to kick out in his birthplace of Toronto on Friday. Still, the widespread Rogers network outage prevented it, leaving thousands of fans disappointed and sad when they arrived at the Rogers Centre.
A last-minute statement made its way across social media with only a little more than an hour until the program’s start. Many fans were left to stroll up the gates only to discover they couldn’t enter, which caused them to stay around the grounds whining about Rogers’ technology.
Staff members used megaphones to go among the crowd while a pre-recorded message played on speakers outside the venue every few minutes.
Sabrina Halabi, who traveled from Calgary and reserved a hotel, stated, “I’m unhappy… we’ve been waiting for this for so long.” She expressed her disappointment when she presented her ticket after learning the event would not occur.
Because The Weeknd is more creative than the rest of us, I had hoped he would be able to perform, but I bet he’s furious.
The rapper named Abel Tesfaye acknowledged this in a statement, calling himself “crushed and devastated” before condemning Rogers specifically.
He stated that I’ve been at the location all day, but the Rogers outage has taken it out of my hands.
“I did my best, yet operations and safety are jeopardized.”
The Rogers Centre also stated that existing tickets would be honored, and information on a new concert date would be released as soon as feasible.
Also read: In Canada, new banking laws have just gone into effect
Laura Rees yelled out in surprise when she heard the news over the loudspeaker but didn’t find any solace in that. She and her husband, together with her two girls, had just got off the freeway after leaving Waterloo, Ontario.
We go to many concerts; before COVID, we probably attended eight or nine, she added.
“Once COVID hit, everything reached to a screeching halt for us, and now everyone wants to leave. I simply want to listen to the music.”
Rees noted that this is just another hassle for Canadian music enthusiasts attempting to get back into purchasing tickets to live performances but frequently find themselves abandoned.
Just hours before his scheduled performances, Justin Bieber canceled two shows at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena in June, leaving supporters to saunter outside the arena as reality struck in.
The pop artist from Stratford, Ontario, would subsequently claim that he withdrew because he had Ramsay Hunt syndrome, which causes facial paralysis.
The start of a global tour and the conclusion of several years of triumph for the Canadian musician in the city where his music career took off made The Weeknd’s performance even more anticipated.
The Weeknd had become one of the biggest stars in the business since the pandemic’s outbreak, gratitude in large part to the success of his 2020 album “After Hours,” which set new records on the Top 40 charts and earned him the gig of performing at the Super Bowl halftime show in 2021.
Tesfaye’s upcoming ambitious plan is the stadium tour for “After Hours Til Dawn.”
The musician abandoned his plans for an arena tour after the Super Bowl because he wanted to go larger and returned every ticket. He announced at the time that “because of the limitations of arenas,” he would transfer his performances to stadiums and up his objectives, giving current ticket holders priority over new ticket buyers.
His revisions permanently removed dates in Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Montreal from the calendar.
Tesfaye teased the big unveiling in Toronto before the new run of performances with pictures of a sizable and ornate set that resembled a post-apocalyptic metropolis.
However, some fans questioned if The Weeknd could deliver the complex performance he had promised if the venue’s infrastructure wasn’t functioning correctly when the Rogers network went down on Friday morning.
Himani Patel was still digesting how the Rogers outage disrupted her plans and stated that it “felt heartbreaking.”
“We anticipated they would come up with a solution by using Bell or another method. We didn’t anticipate it having such a big effect on the show. All of the excitement was for nothing was just incredibly depressing.”
The outage also affected other Friday events. The Scotiabank Arena in Toronto advised Roger Waters concertgoers to save their mobile tickets to their Apple Wallet or Google Pay account, depending on their phone type.
A few blocks away, Massey Hall urged attendees to print their tickets for the Friday night performance by comedian Hannah Gadsby. At the same time, the Budweiser Stage in Toronto, which was hosting country music artist Keith Urban, did the same.
The venue, which does not accept cash, also advised visitors to bring a credit card to pay for food and beverages because the outage impacted the Interac-managed debit transactions.
The nationwide outage prevented companies and customers from using the internet, forced some merchants to only accept cash, and caused issues for radio broadcasters, police, and Service Canada passport offices.
Rogers did not provide a reason for the issues, but it said service restoration was beginning late on Friday.
The Weeknd will begin his 19-date North American tour in the US the following week before returning to Canada on August 25 to perform at Vancouver’s BC Place.
Source: CTV news
Get Canada and Ontario’s top News, Market news, and other worldwide news only on Ontario Independent
