‘Toronto curse strikes again,’ Jhené Aiko fans are reeling online following abrupt concert cancellation – NOW Toronto

A last-minute concert cancellation at Scotiabank Arena has fans pointing fingers at the notorious “Toronto curse.”

Fans of Jhené Aiko were disappointed to find out her Toronto show was postponed on Tuesday evening, only 20 minutes before doors were set to open. A message projected on screens outside of Scotiabank Arena cited “unexpected production issues” as the cause of the cancellation and said a new performance date would be announced shortly. 

“Last night’s Jhené Aiko concert was unfortunately postponed due to a significant delay in tour production arriving into Toronto,” Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment told Now Toronto in a statement provided by Scotiabank Arena and Aiko’s management team. “Despite best efforts, there was insufficient time to have the production properly loaded into the venue for the scheduled performance.”

The cancellation came after a series of updates from Ticketmaster throughout the day on when the concert was supposed to begin, where the website originally set the start time for 7:30 p.m., which later changed to 8:30 p.m. and lastly 9:30 p.m. before being postponed indefinitely.  

The neo-soul singer posted a picture with her crew in the arena on Instagram to apologize for the abrupt cancellation and said that they had been at the venue since 5 a.m.

“They didn’t have floor seats set up,” Aiko explained to disheartened fans in her comment section. “It was a bare arena… no stage, nor speakers.”

The concert was set to feature openers Coi Leray, Tink, and Kiana Lede, all of which took to Instagram stories to apologize and promised to return to the city. R&B songwriter Umi was also on the opener list, but announced shortly before the concert cancellation that she would not be performing due to reasons out of her control.  

This cancellation marks Aiko’s second in two years, after backing out as a headliner hours before her Kultureland Festival set time held at Ajax Downs Racetrack in 2022. 

“What is going on that Toronto can’t produce a Jhené Aiko concert?” a user on X questioned. 

“Does Jhené Aiko hate Toronto?” another user asked. 

Torontonians are blaming the “Toronto curse” for the cancellation, a phenomenon where many touring artists coincidentally have had their Toronto shows cancelled or postponed at the last minute. In the last two years, several artists have faced this, including The Weeknd, Justin Bieber, SZA, Dua Lipa and KISS. Most recently, music festival Hot in Toronto was cancelled after headliner Lil Wayne dropped out. The hip-hop festival would have also featured heavy hitters like Akon, T-Pain and 2 Chainz. 

“Toronto curse strikes again!” many social media users immediately said in response to the cancellation message online. 

“Wdym Jhené Aiko got cancelled,” a user on X posted. “This is the third time this has happened to me.”

“I know not every concert in Toronto is postponed or canceled but it sure feels like a good number are,” a different user said. “City is cursed.” 

“I’m never going to concerts in Toronto again,” another user wrote. “Everytime I do something just always happens.” 

A number of people came in from out of town, some driving from as far as Detroit, U.S. for the show. 

“Drove 2.5 hours to Toronto,” an X user complained. “Stood outside for two more after they postponed the start of the show. Now we drive 2.5 hours home because they postponed the show entirely.” 

Some are also placing the blame on Aiko and her management team for not proportionally spacing out her show dates, as many international artists have faced similar issues with attempting to enter Canada on the same day as their performance bookings. The singer took the stage at Barclays Center in New York on Monday night, and many are lashing out at Aiko’s team for being ill-prepared to cross the border and perform abroad within the next day. 

“Jhené Aiko had to cancel her concert because production got stuck at the border. Why do these artists book their shows days apart especially when going out the country,” an X user questioned. 

“Get this girl a new tour planner that understands how borders work please,” another user posted.