Katy Perry forced to postpone tour

Katy Perry has been forced to postpone her Witness: The Tour due to “unavoidable” production delays.

The 32-year-old popstar was originally scheduled to kick things off in Columbus, Ohio, at the Schottenstein Center on 9 September, but on Thursday morning she announced the concerts will actually begin 12 days later in Canada.

Taking to Instagram, Perry uploaded two photos with the caption, “SOME (thumbs up) NEWS AND SOME (thumbs down) NEWS but I promise we’re gonna be (OK hand gesture).”

The Chained to the Rhythm hitmaker first revealed she will be joined by support acts Noah Cyrus, Purity Ring and Carly Rae Jepsen on the North American leg of her tour, before explaining things will begin later than anticipated because of circumstances out of her control.

“Due to unavoidable production delays, major elements of my tour stage design could not be available for me to rehearse on until this week,” Perry wrote, with two weary face emojis on either side of the words “THE BAD NEWS.”

“I’ll be spending the next few weeks taking the time to properly prepare the show to be an experience I am proud to share with you. I’m sorry for any inconvenience this causes, but hope everyone who sees the show will agree it was worth the wait. My first show on WITNESS: The Tour will be in Montreal on September 19, and all the rescheduled dates are listed on katyperry.com/tour.”

This setback means the shows in Columbus, Quebec City, Toronto, Buffalo and Philadelphia have all been cancelled, while her Charlotte date was cancelled earlier this month after Perry revealed she has a “long-standing family obligation” to attend on the same day.

Dates run until August 2018, when she is slated to end the tour in Sydney.