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5 Mar 2013

‘Beliebers’ no more? Justin Bieber booed for being late

He may have the most dedicated fans in the world. But teenage superstar Justin Bieber was booed when he finally arrived on stage last night – after keeping fans waiting for nearly two hours.

The concert at London’s O2 arena on Monday night opened the teenage star’s four-night stint in London as part of his UK “Believe” tour.

But up to 20,000 young fans said they had to wait until almost 10.30pm – long after many children’s bedtime, and two hours after many expected him to arrive – before the singer graced the stage.

Many fell asleep in their chairs or were taken home by the time he appeared, while hundreds of parents who turned up to collect their children just before 11pm were kept waiting outside.

To add insult to injury, fans said that his late showing at London’s O2 Arena was not explained, and many booed the 19-year-old Canadian when he eventually appeared.

Bieber hits back

Following complaints, the teenage popstar said his late showing was exaggerated – but offered an apology to fans via his Twitter account. Within minutes, his series of short statements amassed over 11,000 retweets.

He said he was due to appear at 9.30pm, not an hour earlier, and denied he kept fans waiting for two hours, blaming the media for blowing the delay out of proportion.

Channel 4 News Reporter Paraic O’Brien went to meet fans of the teenage star outside his hotel in London on Monday (see video above) and was told that the star had only been “40 minutes late”, and that they didn’t care because the star is “part of a family” of ‘Beliebers’.

They also explained the reasons for their devotion to the star – with one saying he had screamed and “cried for an hour” after receiving a Tweet which simply read “OK” from Bieber.

Tickets to the concert cost up to £70 each, and some parents said they are considering asking for a refund. It is unclear whether the venue will bear responsibility for the delay.

Because of the delayed start, some fans had to miss the gig altogether in order to catch the last train home from London.

‘Waste of time and money’

Wayne Parsonage said he ended up missing the show to ensure he could get home, and wrote on Twitter: “Disgusting. Waste of my time and money… never again.”

Another tweet read: “Justin Bieber needs to understand he has fans that are really young. He can’t come on stage like 1 hour and 45 mins late on a school night!”

Louise Cooper, who had taken her nine-year-old daughter to the show, said fans were in tears outside the venue after they were forced to miss most of the concert in order to get home.

“He should have been done by 10.30pm and at that time he had only just started,” she said. “The ladies sitting with us had to leave after 20 minutes and they had spent £70 each on a ticket, which is really bad.

“There were teenage girls crying outside. And there were a lot of parents who had dropped off their children at the show who had gone to pick them up again and were outside and didn’t know what was going on. And the poor security guys were having to absorb all the criticism.”

But while parents were outraged, many young fans were still enamoured with the teenage popstar, and said they would come and see him again.

At 11.36pm, the official account for the 02 tweeted: “Justin Bieber is now on stage and apologises for the lateness of his show.”

It later added: “Sorry to all the Justin Bieber fans for the lateness of his show tonight. The Tube will still be running when the show finishes.”

The world-wide “Believe” tour has already stopped in Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Nottingham.

Bieber has been photographed on a string of nights out since he arrived in the UK for his shows, including one appearance in which he was seen outside topless despite the cold weather.

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