The titos and titas of Manila were shocked when Tom Jones cancelled his Manila concert last Sat, Apr 2, at the eleventh hour.
In a statement, Jones’ management said the 75-year-old singer had to cancel his performance in Manila “due to serious illness in his immediate family.”
Apparently, concert promoter Renen de Guia of Ovation Productions was shocked by the cancellation, too.
In an interview with Joaquin Henson in The Philippine Star published Fri, Apr 8, De Guia said he was told of the cancellation at around 4:30pm. Jones was set to go on stage at around 9pm.
“It’s a promoter’s nightmare,” he said. De Guia said he was told by Jones’ tour director via “an audio call from a computer” from London that the “Sex Bomb” singer was “totally distraught and affected” and “wouldn’t be able to perform.” He also was not told which relative of Jones fell ill.
When news of the cancellation broke, many netizens and disappointed fans asked: Why didn’t Jones just perform and leave the country immediately after the show? De Guia also posed the same question to Jones’s team. “But they told me the decision was final. Tom was too devastated to perform,” he said.
Jones also cancelled shows in Thailand, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, and UAE immediately after the cancellation of his Manila show was announced.
This isn’t the first time Jones cancelled a concert in the Philippines. He was supposed to hold a concert in the Philippines in 2010, also at the Araneta Coliseum and produced by Ovation, but cancelled it due to acute laryngitis.
Maybe third time’s the charm for Tom Jones and his Pinoy fans?
