It was a sold-out Justin Bieber concert at London’s O2 arena and it was supposed to be a happy occasion for the attendees but instead, it was filled with angry Bieber fans aka Beliebers – even if these were the ones who actually managed to get tickets to see their favourite superstar. Why, you ask?
Firstly, the doors had opened at 6:30pm. Justin was supposed to have gone on stage during the advertised time of 8:30pm. However, by 10:20pm, the teen sensation was still nowhere to be seen. Let’s keep in mind that all of this happened on a school night, fans had paid up to £70 for tickets, and many Beliebers had to bring their Papa Beliebers and Mama Beliebers to chaperon them to the concert. And so began the flurry of angry tweets and booing fans.
One apparently unhappy father tweeted, “Daughter and niecers at O2 to see Justin Bieber – Still not on stage at 10:20 on a school night – That’s just taking the piss!”. Former Coronation Street star, Wendi Peters also joined in, tweeting that Justin had finally come on stage at the “ridiculous time” of 10:24pm.
And what does Justin do? The newly 19 singer moved swiftly to quell what threatened to become a PR disaster by, yes, taking it all to Twitter. Like so:
Justin, we know you have only about 35 million Beliebers following you and we’re aware that you have one of, if not the highest amount of Twitter followers in the universe. But denying the claim that you were two hours late and attempting to blame the media for we-don’t-even-know-what-reason is definitely not the way to go.
The O2 Arena, on the other hand, went all out to reassure fans following the big “Justin is late” disaster by tweeting, “We have been informed by the @justinbieber team that he is scheduled to go on stage at 9pm tonight. We will be doing everything within our power to ensure Justin makes it on stage at the right time.”
O2 Arena, you’re doing it right.
Sources: The Guardian, The Independent, Billboard.