Britney Spears stopped performing halfway through her concert at the GM Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, after smoky conditions and ventilation problems forced the singer and her dancers to leave the stage for more than 30 minutes.
The show started with the Pussycat Dolls pop ensemble that got the crowd hot and bothered with their sexy dance moves. They kicked the show off with their breakout hit, “Don’t Cha”, dancing around the circular stage in thigh-high boots and sparkling leotards. The set ended on a high note with their hit, “When I Grow Up”. Then, the “Circus” came on stage.
But, after appearing on the GM Place stage at 8:17 p.m. and performing a couple of songs, Spears and her dancers vanished for no reason, leaving an impatient, swaying crowd calling for her return in complete darkness: “Britney. Britney. Britney.” People were chanting her name. Others were just yelling and howling. The mood was sour.
After about 20 minutes, a voice came over the loudspeaker to tell concertgoers that smoking marijuana and cigarettes is illegal at GM Place. “It’s become uncomfortable and unsafe for the performers, including Ms. Spears. The show will resume as soon as the air around the stage is clear,” the announcement said. After the announcement, she finally appeared again at 9:05 p.m. to wow her adoring fans with the rest of her concert. She thanked the crowd, taking a bow with her baton behind her back and her handcuffs dangling at her hips before darting off the stage while the air was full of confetti. In the end, her fans seemed happy enough to forget about that odd dark period. After performing the final encore, Spears walked offstage with the words, “Thanks Vancouver. You were wonderful. Drive safe. Don’t smoke weed! Rock out with your cocks out!” Yes, this really happened.
Sources tell blogger Perez Hilton that throngs of people smoking marijuana in the crowd were the cause of the delay: “We were concerned for the lighting guys and everyone else working on the show. If one of those guys up above got dizzy or sick from all that marijuana smoke… It wouldn’t have been pretty.” Spears’ camp issued a statement after the concert, saying, “We want to apologize to all the fans who attended our Vancouver show tonight for the brief pause in Britney’s set. Britney Spears has issued an apology to all her fans on her website, saying “crew members above the stage became ill due to a ventilation issue.”

Source: rollingstone.com; perezhilton.com

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 at 6:19 pm and is filed under News.