FANS WORRY FOR JUSTIN BIEBER AFTER MANCHESTER BOMBING
Social media flooded with pleas for safety to avoid Manchester tragedy
LOS ANGELES
FANS of Justin Bieber pleaded on Tuesday for his upcoming British tour dates to be cancelled, underscoring the potential repercussions to music acts with a young fan base from the suicide bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester.
Canadian heartthrob Bieber, 23, is due to play an open-air concert at London’s Hyde Park in July. But fans flooded social media saying his appearance should be axed for the safety both of fans and the singer himself.
“Cancel Justin’s concert in the UK, please! We want him to be safe, please,” a person using the handle @marhrukhh wrote on the Instagram account of Bieber’s manager, Scooter Braun.
Leanne Murray, 20, who lives in Ireland, has tickets to see Bieber play in Dublin next month. But she said she was contemplating selling them after Monday’s bombing.
“I just don’t want what I would hope to be a great night to end in something like last night,” Murray, who paid €180 (RM864) each for two tickets.
“It’s frightening to think that it could have been any of us and it really shows that you never know what’s around the corner,” Murray added.
Representatives for Bieber did not immediately respond to Reuters on the status of his upcoming performances.
Touring has been one of the top sources of income for musicians in recent years. The top 10 worldwide tour acts grossed a combined US$1.67 billion (RM7.17 billion) last year, according to music industry publication Pollstar, with Bruce Springsteen bringing in US$268.3 million alone.
Pop acts like Taylor Swift, Bieber, One Direction and Grande are also top earners.
Grande grossed more than US$25 million from touring between April 2016-April 2017, according to Pollstar figures, while Bieber grossed US$163 million last year.
Joe Reinartz, news editor at Pollstar, said that although security was already strong at music venues and would no doubt be stepped up, parents would likely be more cautious. Reuters