| British singer Anne-Marie / Screen captured from Anne-Marie's twitter |
By Jung Hae-myoung
British pop singer Anne-Marie hosted an “emotional” free concert for Korean fans who were disappointed by the abrupt cancellation of her performance at the Holiday Land Festival.
Her goodwill concert came after the festival organizer announced on Sunday on a large screen that the British singer had canceled her performance, which Anne-Marie said was not true.
On Monday, she was compared to the Portuguese superstar Christian Ronaldo who disappointed Korean fans by staying on the bench throughout his team's football game against the Korean All-Stars last week.
Compared to the footballer, Anne-Marie, however, did her utmost to honor her commitments to perform for Korean fans. “I DID NOT CANCEL THE SHOW PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD,” Anne-Marie wrote on Twitter in all-caps.
She uploaded the post with a video saying the festival organizer, Fake Virgin, stopped her from taking the stage as she didn't sign an intrusive statement requiring her to take responsibility if fans are injured in any accidents as a result of her performance. The fans were told otherwise, as the organizers said Anne-Marie refused to come on stage just before her performance was scheduled to begin.
“I've been waiting for confirmation this whole time. I know that one stage has been already shut down, but I'm not allowed to go on,” she said.
“I'm so sorry but it wasn't up to me, and if it was up to me I would still be down there performing.”
She said she was only told the stage was structurally unsafe.
An hour later, she made another announcement that the show would go on, announcing a surprise concert held for free at Rubic Lounge at Paradise City Hotel at 11:30 p.m. A long line of people appeared at the hotel within an hour.
During the concert, fans surprised her by launching paper planes while singing along with her. The singer shed tears toward the end of the show, overcome by Korean fans enthusiasm.
For the people who could not make it to the concert, she put it up live on Instagram for everyone to watch. More than 12,000 people watched the live broadcast on Instagram.
Anne-Marie is a 28-year-old British singer who has seen growing popular in Korea for her song “2002.” The song was released in April last year, but belatedly grabbed ears in Korea for the year is also significant in Korean football history.
Holiday Land Festival was a two-day concert held Saturday and Sunday at Paradise City near Incheon International Airport, with many popular domestic and international artists including Amine, Anne-Marie, H.E.R., Cigarettes After Sex, Men I Trust and more.