Fans of Kelly Clarkson have been left devastated – and some furious – after she announced the cancellation of her Las Vegas residency at the last minute.
The American Idol champion, 43, announced in February that she would be taking up a residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, following in the footsteps of Celine Dion, Adele, Madonna, and Sir Elton John.
However, just 90 minutes before she was due to take to the stage, she shared that the shows would not be going ahead yet.
She began in a statement to her Instagram followers: ‘We have been working 24/7 to make Studio Sessions the most intimate and extraordinary experience with and for my incredible fans.
‘I am beyond grateful that you always show up for me and I am devastated to have to postpone tonight and tomorrow’s opening at Caesars.
‘The prep and rehearsals have taken a toll on my voice. I want the shows to be perfect for y’all and I need to protect myself from doing serious damage so I am taking this weekend and next week to rest up so that we can deliver what you all deserve.’
Kelly described the show itself as ‘truly incredible,’ praising her musicians and singers as ‘outstanding’.
‘I want us all to start out strong.’
Kelly vowed to kick off her residency in a week, concluding: ‘I can’t wait to be back next weekend and show y’all what we’ve been working on.’
While the pop star’s message was undeniably heartfelt, it didn’t stop fans with tickets from raging in the comments.
Many confessed to spending thousands on travel expenses, flying to Vegas from all over the world to see their favourite star live.
‘I’m a huge fan and flew here from Boston spending thousands on tickets and hotels to see your show tomorrow for my 40th birthday. I really want you to be healthy but cancelling this late has such a huge financial impact on your loyal fans 😭’, commented @adifferentperspective.
‘I genuinely believe artists should have to reimburse fans that travel for their shows and then cancel at the last minute. I do not blame her for canceling as I’m sure it was necessary. But there has to be some repercussion. Something for the people that spent thousands to get there. There has to be some kind of insurance’, ranted @adree805.
‘We spent a LOT of money for you to cancel literally 30 minutes before show time. A lot of us cannot afford to travel to Las Vegas, take off work and pay for hotels. Ticketmaster is NOT refunding either because you POSTPONED instead of CANCELLING. Please have your Team rethink this. Not good’, blasted @amaliaschwerdtmann.
@desidream52 also accused Kelly of ‘disrespecting [her] fans’, while @themrkingalex said they had already been ‘waiting in line all day’ with excitement.
While everyone wished her well, comments defending Kelly were certainly in the minority.
‘when Adele cancelled, we still had an amazing time. Respect for taking care of yourself’, wrote @kelly.s27.
The Hello hitmaker famously cancelled her own Las Vegas residency in January 2022, a mere 24 hours before it was due to begin, citing a Covid-19 outbreak among production staff for delays.
Later in the year, she began performing her Weekends With Adele shows every Friday and Saturday to sold-out, star-studded crowds.
When announcing her own residency earlier in the year, Because of You hitmaker Kelly confirmed that it would consist of 18 varying shows through July and August until returning in mid-November.
The Grammy-winning star said at the time: ‘I’m so excited to be back in Vegas!
‘We’re bringing the studio to the stage this time with Studio Sessions! See y’all there!’
She then gave fans a teaser of what to expect, spilling during an interview with Today in May: ‘This is totally different for us, how we’re doing it.
‘It’s called Studio Sessions, and the reason for that is I feel like you don’t get live anymore—maybe back in the 70s—but you really don’t get live what you really feel in the studios.’
She added: ‘You fill out the whole stage, like, I’ve hired more musicians, more singers are coming out, we’re literally filling out everything.
‘There’s no tracks at all of any instruments or anything. It’s all live. It just feels amazing in the studio, so we wanted to bring that into the setting for everybody, so it’s going to be really fun.’
However, Kelly has had trouble selling tickets for the gigs, as just a matter of weeks ago, 70% of tickets for what was due to be her opening night on July 4 were still available.
Kelly, who has now sold over 25million records worldwide, rose to fame in 2002 when she won American Idol.
There’s no doubt that she’s the talent show’s most successful contestant, her powerhouse vocals earning her multiple accolades, chart-topping singles, and the title of one of history’s greatest singers from the likes of Rolling Stone and Billboard.
Since 2019, she has hosted her own talk show, The Kelly Clarkson Show, on which she also covers other people’s songs in the viral Kellyoke segment. The programme has scooped a whopping 22 Daytime Emmy Awards.
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