Backstage drama at Durban concert
Press told festival was running behind time
While American singer Jill Scott delivered an electrifying performance at the Essence Festival Durban, there was drama backstage after she snubbed local media.
Before hitting the stage to perform hit songs such as Golden and A Long Walk, Scott pulled out of her press conference at the eleventh hour. Sowetan understands the festival was running behind schedule.
Around 4pm on Saturday, journalists were briefed Scott was busy with sound check and had agreed to talk to the media after her performance at night.
The 45-year-old US singer was the headline act for the festival. She was supported by local musicians such Babes Wodumo, Nasty C and Mi Casa. In a joint statement to Sowetan, Essence Festival Durban organisers explained the reason behind the cancellation.
“Miss Scott’s management team met with our PR team and the team[s] decided that Miss Scott would take questions from the press after her performance,” the statement read.
“Because the day’s programmes ran late and behind the schedule, it had a knock-on effect on the rest of the day. The concert started quite late and Miss Scott performed in the early hours of Sunday morning.
“A collective decision between both teams was then taken to cancel the press conference, as it would have been 3am by the time it started.”
Essence Festival Durban was held at the Durban ICC between September 26 and yesterday.