Drake Cancels Philadelphia Show on Second Night of Tour
Drake canceled his concert in Philadelphia last night, pulling the plug on the date an hour after the show was scheduled to start. Philly.com reports that fans had already entered the Wells Fargo Center when they were notified that Drake would not be performing that night.
A spokesperson for the venue issued a statement explaining the last-minute change: “Due to the elaborate nature of tonight’s show and an unexpected technical issue, Drake’s ‘Would You Like A Tour’ concert at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia has been postponed until Wednesday, December 18th.” The tickets for Saturday’s performance will be honored for the new date.
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The ill-fated show in Philadelphia was only the second stop on Drake’s Would You Like A Tour, with the opener taking place across Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh just the night before. But it had already been a dramatic couple of weeks for the tour, with Drake reportedly firing supporting act Future over a lukewarm assessment the rapper gave to Billboard regarding Drake’s new album, Nothing Was the Same. Future had been quoted as saying “Drake made an album that is full of hits, but it doesn’t grab you. They’re not possessive; they don’t make you feel the way I do.”
Future’s management insisted that the quotes were meant to be off the record and had been taken out of context. According to the New York Post, Drake later invited Future to return to the tour for less money than the $40,000-per-gig originally offered; Future declined and threatened to sue Drake for about $1.5 million in lost wages.
All seemed to be back on track by Wednesday, when Future confirmed to Rolling Stone that he had settled his disagreement with Drake and would indeed be joining the tour.
Saturday’s cancellation seems to have taken fellow opener Miguel by surprise: at 8:35 last night, he tweeted, “Man, just found out, unfortunately tonight’s show in Philly is cancelled. Can’t wait to find out the rescheduled date and come back and rock.” The crooner ended up playing a surprise make-up set with his band at another Philadelphia location.
The next scheduled date on the tour is October 21st in Montreal.