Lily Allen downsizes several venues on North American tour and cancels Montreal concert
Lily Allen has downsized several venues on her upcoming North American tour in support of West End Girl.
The singer-songwriter recently wrapped up an arena leg of the tour in the UK and was due to play similar size venues across the pond, but has now opted to scale them back to more intimate surroundings.
While the tour will still kick off at Madison Square Garden in New York on September 3rd, her Philadelphia show on September 6th has been moved from the Xfinity Mobile Arena to the TD Pavilion at Highmark Mann.
Meanwhile, her concert at the Bell Centre in Montreal on September 8th has been axed completely. However, Allen’s shows in Boston, Detroit, Minneapolis, Red Rocks, and Toronto will remain at the same venues.
Additionally, her concert in Chicago will now take place at the 3,500-capacity Chicago Theatre rather than the 23,500-capacity United Center.
Allen’s San Francisco show, originally set to take place at the Chase Center, has now been replaced with a date at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland, which has a capacity of around 16,000 less.
Allen will also no longer perform at the Kia Forum in Inglewood and will instead take to the stage at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, which has room for 10,000 fewer people than the legendary Californian arena.
The ‘Smile’ singer has added an extra stop to the tour, too, which will see her visit Seattle’s Paramount Theatre on September 24th.
Taking to social media, Allen, who didn’t give a reason for the changes to the schedule, explained that fans who bought tickets for shows that have been moved to new venues will receive full refunds and also be entered in a pre-sale to secure tickets for the new shows.
She also apologised to disappointed fans in Montreal, sharing that “we tried our hardest but will not be able to make it to you this time.”
It comes after Allen recently hit back at journalist Rupert Hawksley, who complained on X about her show at the O2 Arena last month, “No support act. Arrived on stage at 9:10pm. All wrapped up by 10pm. Not one word to the audience. £86 to sit in the gods.”
Subsequently, Allen wrote, “There is a support act. The show has always been advertised as ‘Lily Allen performs West End Girl. I was a few mins late as my tights were laddered and I had to change them. The show is just over an hour as it’s just the album in its entirety. It’s my artistic choice not to talk to the audience, the fourth wall helps with the storytelling. Most people find it to be effective.”
Despite justifying her choices, Allen concluded by saying, “I don’t want anyone to feel ripped off. Everyone on this tour is really working very hard to give people the best show we possibly can, and I’m extremely proud of it.”
Before Allen takes West End Girl back to North America, she will be bringing the album to festivals across Europe, including Way Out West, Boardmasters, and Lollapalooza Berlin.
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