The Weeknd stopped his Saturday-night concert after only a few songs and canceled the show at Los Angeles's SoFi Stadium, telling the audience that he'd lost his voice and was unable to continue.
As first reported by the Los Angeles Times, the singer, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, was in the middle of "Can't Feel My Face" — his third song of the set — when he walked offstage. After a few minutes, he returned and addressed the sold-out crowd.
“This is killing me. I don’t want to stop the show. But I can’t give you the concert that I want to give you right now,” he said, according to videos posted on Twitter.
“I’m going to make sure everybody’s good, get your money back, and I’ll do a show real soon for you guys, but I wanted to come out and personally apologize and not tweet it or Instagram it. I wanted you guys to know that I can’t give you what I want to give you. I apologize. I’m so sorry. I love you guys so much.”
.@TheWeeknd just lost his voice in the middle of a sold out show at SoFi Stadium. Came out and apologized and announced everyone would get their money back and left.
After making his personal apology to the audience, the Weeknd then posted a statement on his social media pages.
A video recorded earlier in the concert appears to capture the moment his voice began to show strain.
.@theweeknd the voice crack that ended the night
A number of fans in the audience posted their disappointment (and memes) on Twitter.
Im bout to jump off the roof of SoFi after all the money I spent on drinks and for The Weeknd to walk off……………
Everybody leaving the sofi stadium after The Weeknd came out and canceled the concert
Others applauded the singer for making a difficult decision, noting that he's been on tour since early July.
The Weeknd has been singing non stop for the past month or so and y’all wanna talk down on him for “losing his voice” we lose our voices by singing 3 songs, don’t talk down on my bae fr
@meli_angel_ @theweeknd Dude legit looks upset. His music and fans mean the world to him. Can't imagine what he's going through.
I got you @theweeknd