Fans were left disappointed after R&B star Summer Walker’s performance was cut short during Sunday night’s show – but organisers have since revealed that stage management issues were to blame for the abrupt ending.
Summer Walker, who performed at Rocking The Daisies in Cape Town last Friday and In The City on Sunday night at SunBet in Pretoria, took the stage after musicians Lordkez, Jessie Reyez, and Mereba.
According to the project lead of In The City, Jason Pienaar, technical and scheduling delays throughout the evening caused a ripple effect that impacted all the artists’ set times. As a result, the American singer’s performance was reduced to less than 30 minutes.
“All of the artists ran late, and their performances went slightly over time. With the utmost respect for all the international teams, I do believe the sets should have been wrapped up earlier to allow more time for Summer Walker,” Pienaar said.
He added that while the delays affected the entire line-up, the organisers understand that the international singer’s set stood out for fans who had been expecting a full performance.
The American singer took to her Instagram on Sunday to apologise to her fans for a short performance which she said was due to “unprofessionalism from the event promoter” and not her.
She said she was forced offstage by officials and apologised to fans who were frustrated by the abrupt end to her set.
They changed my times three times, and when I got on stage, I'm thinking I'm doing my full set, but they were yelling in my ear to cut my [whole] entire set halfway.
“South Africa, I am so sorry. I literally don't know what happened. I got kicked off the stage. This whole thing was unprofessional. They changed my times three times, and when I got on stage, I'm thinking I'm doing my full set, but they were yelling in my ear to cut my [whole] entire set halfway. I didn't even get to go to the crowd like I usually do because they were telling me to hurry and wrap it up – that wasn't my intention. I was there to do my full hour,” said the singer.
She said the police and fire marshal and promoters were telling her that she was going to get a fine if she didn't hurry it up.
“They could've paid the fine because they know you guys spent your hard-earned money, you drove too far away to come here,” said the star.
In their official statement released later on Monday, the organisers said they had secured all the relevant documents to run a safe event.
“Schedule delays outside of our control during the course of the day unfortunately forced the team to adjust the running order of the entire show mid-event. With a non-negotiable hard 10:30pm cut-off, the decision was made to shorten the stage time of all of the performing artists, including Summer Walker’s. An option to pay a fine in exchange for an extension was never presented and thus never an option,” said the organisers.
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