Lionel Richie apologizes ‘thousand times’ for MSG’s no-show
Lionel Richie loves his fans endlessly — so much so that he’s apparently “attempted to bribe the pilot” of a plane to get him to his sold-out Madison Square Garden show on time.
The “Hello” musician apologized to concertgoers on Monday for missing his sold-out show at MSG last week. Due to the storm that prevented his flight from landing in New York and forced him to postpone the concert to Monday, he was unable to perform there on Saturday.
“I got two nos at the same time,” Richie told the crowd on the new date, “and if these two decide it’s no — if God says no, and if the pilot says no…”
The veteran singer-songwriter paused to add that he “attempted to bribe the pilot” to land the plane in the Big Apple during an extreme thunderstorm that blew across New York, New Jersey and Connecticut on Saturday night let.
“The pilot said, ‘I want to see my wife tomorrow,'” Richie recalls. “So we’re going to do that tonight. I apologize a thousand times.”
Fans expressed outrage over the weekend after the ‘All Night Long’ hitmaker announced his MSG concert had been postponed – an hour after the show was scheduled to start. His co-headliner Earth, Wind & Fire also had to cancel due to weather problems.
As frustration mounted on social media, Richie posted on Saturday that he was “so depressed” that he couldn’t make it to the arena that night, saying instead he “can’t wait to perform on Monday.” .
MSG was the final stop on Richie and Earth, Wind & Fire’s Sing a Song All Night Long Tour, taking place September 8 at the Chase Center in San Francisco and concluding September 15 at the Kia Forum in Inglewood.
