During Sam Smith’s latest tour stop off in Manchester on Wednesday night (May 24), the concert went dark, and was abruptly called off.
Now, the star has spoken out about the issue, and it turns out it wasn’t due to a power cut, which fans initially thought.
This comes after Smith has cancelled previous shows due to poor health.
Before his scheduled tour in Birmingham, fans were devastated to find out it had been pulled. In a statement at the time, they wrote: “Sailors, I am so sorry to let you know that my team and I are still really not well, so unfortunately we need to reschedule our Birmingham show to the Saturday 27th May 2023.
“It’s so important to me that we give you the very best version of Gloria. I don’t want you to experience it at anything less. Thank you so much for understanding, I know how excited everyone is to see the show, and I feel the same about seeing all of you.”
They confirmed that all previous tickets will be valid for the new date, and to check their website for more details.
The singer was previously due to play in Glasgow on April 22, but issued a similar statement blaming a ‘virus’ that forced them to cancel.
“Myself and a lot of my team have been hit with a virus, that’s made us really unwell,” they said.
“I want to give you the best version of Gloria the tour and at the moment that’s not possible. It was also really important to me that we had another date to move this to straight away. We will celebrate Gloria together. All previous tickets are still valid for the new date.”
So this latest bump in the road at Manchester has left fans even more deflated.
But this time, it wasn’t due to the star’s health. It was announced over the tannoy that the concert had been cancelled due to “vocal issues” after a brief period of uncertainty.
The arena first seemed to go dark, leading to initial speculation by fans that there had been a “power cut.”
One Twitter user wrote: “Sam Smith concert at MEN arena has had a power cut everybody in darkness.”
Understandably, fans were devastated that the show had been called off, with @WillDennigan posting: “Show at the #aoarena is cancelled. Absolute bummer. hope @samsmith is well nonetheless and ready to perform again soon at full health!”
@sdonne23 tweeted: “#samsmith concert cancelled because of a voice issue! What a massive shame! Take care @samsmith you did sound amazing!”
The star has since issued an apology and explained why the show had been called off.
Taking to their Instagram stories, the singer wrote: “Dearest sailors, I don’t know what to say honestly. I fought off a virus a few weeks ago and since then we have travelled across Europe and had such incredible shows.
“Today in soundcheck I felt fine and was so excited to give Manchester an amazing show tonight, with a special surprise at the end.
“During my third song, I noticed something wrong with my voice. I prayed it was just my voice waking up for the show but into the fourth song I could feel something was really wrong.
“I came off stage and have tried everything to get my voice back in gear but it won’t. I am honestly heartbroken I couldn’t finish the show tonight for you all. I love you all. I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry x”
As many fans will already know, Smith uses they/them pronouns and came out as non-binary back in 2019. However, their journey hasn’t been easy…
Smith shockingly admitted to having encountered harassment and abuse after coming out. Opening up to Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1, they shared that there haven’t been any problems when it comes to their personal life, but the general public hasn’t been as supportive.
They explained: “I think all the only negatives in the struggle have been in my public life and my job. And just the amount of hate and s***tness that came my way was just exhausting.
“It was in the f***ing news. Someone spat at me in the street. It’s crazy. What I find hard about it is it’s like, if that’s happening to me and I’m famous, I’m a pop star, can you imagine what other kids, like queer kids are feeling?
“And it’s just so sad that we’re in 2023 and it’s still happening. It’s exhausting and especially in England.”
But despite all the hate, Smith admitted that they feel a sense of relief that they can finally embody who they feel they’ve “always been.”
“My love life has become better from it. I feel lovable. I feel comfortable in my skin, but I wear what I want to wear.”
“Since changing my pronouns, it felt like a coming home. I wish I knew what the words were when I was in school because I would’ve identified as that in school,” they said. “Because it is who I am and it’s who I’ve always been.”
