The Weeknd said he is “crushed and heartbroken” after his new stadium tour was postponed due to a nationwide outage of one of Canada’s biggest phone networks, which caused problems for venue operations.
The pop-superstar said he had “tried my absolute best” but that the matter was “out of our hands” due to the malfunction compromising fan safety at his hometown venue, in Toronto.
The Rogers Centre stadium, also home to the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team, apologised to customers and promised that a new date would be organised in due course.
Writing on Twitter, the singer, real name Abel Tesfaye, said: “I’m crushed & heartbroken.
“Been at the venue all day but it’s out of our hands because of the Rogers outage. Operations and safety are compromised and I tried my absolute best.
“This one hurts the most, and we will make this show happen, but unfortunately not tonight.
“I know how long you’ve been waiting and how hard a lot of you worked to make it to the show and experience this special moment with me.
“I can’t wait to see you all.”
“We regret to announce that The Weeknd tour stop at Rogers Centre has been postponed due to service outages impacting venue operations,” a statement posted online from the venue read.
“A new show date will be shared ASAP and tickets will be honoured.
“We understand how disappointing this is and apologise for the inconvenience.”
The Weeknd is due to embark on a multi-stadium tour, titled All Hours Til Dawn, following the release of his fifth studio album Dawn FM.
A statement from tour promoter Live Nation read: “The Weeknd was onsite and ready to play but due to the nationwide Rogers network outage the show planned for this evening at Rogers Centre will be postponed as the venue’s operations & infrastructure are not possible until full service is back.”