The Weeknd apologised to fans over the weekend after a show at the Rogers Centre stadium in Toronto was postponed at the last minute due to a mobile network outage affecting venue operations.
Headline sponsor of the venue, Rogers Communications, experienced a disruption to services on Friday when the show was due to take place, affecting mobile and internet services across Canada. As well as affecting the Rogers Stadium, some emergency service providers were unable to receive incoming calls.
“I'm crushed and heartbroken”, The Weeknd wrote on social media. “Been at the venue all day but it's out of our hands because of the Rogers outage. Operations and safety are compromised and I tried my absolute best”.
“This one hurts the most”, he said of having to cancel a hometown show, “and we will make this show happen, but unfortunately not tonight. I know how long you've been waiting and how hard a lot of you worked to make it to the show and experience this special moment with me. I can't wait to see you all”.
A statement from promoter Live Nation added: "The Weeknd was onsite and ready to play but due to the nationwide Rogers network outage the show planned for this evening at Rogers Centre will be postponed as the venue's operations and infrastructure are not possible until full service is back”.
In a statement on Saturday, after services had been restored, Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri explained that “a maintenance update in our core network” had “caused some of our routers to malfunction early Friday morning”.
It has not yet been announced when The Weeknd’s Toronto show will now take place. His next scheduled show is at the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on 14 Jul.