Lauryn Hill postpones tour with Fugees due to “serious vocal strain”
Lauryn Hill has postponed the remaining dates of her tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of ‘The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill’, citing a “serious vocal strain for the past month”.
The announcement was made in an Instagram post made by Hill on November 22, which depicted a performance of ‘The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill’ standout cut ‘Ex-Factor’, presumably from the ongoing tour, her voice audibly strained and hoarse.
The lengthy caption detailed that she had been “battling serious vocal strain for the past month”, performing recent shows while on prescribed medication. “I made it through each show by taking prescribed prednisone,” she wrote. “In order to prevent any long term negative affect on my voice and my body, I need to take time off to allow for real vocal recovery so that I can discontinue the medication completely.”
She also explained that though the remaining shows of the tour would be postponed, the November 26 date at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Arena will proceed, stating: “We already had to move this show once and being so close to New Jersey, it’s basically hometown for us—so we’ll close out the year with one final show amongst friends and family!”
Her North American dates scheduled for Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Alabama, Florida, and Massachusetts will thus be rescheduled for dates that have yet to be announced. She also stated that concerts that had been cancelled, such as those scheduled for Detroit, Michigan and Fort Worth, Texas, will be “rescheduled for early 2024”, adding that due to “overwhelming response”, more dates will be added to the tour, “including overseas”.
Recently, she cancelled her Fort Worth, Texas date on October 31, expressing in a statement posted on X that she had woken up that morning being unable to “talk let alone sing or rap”.
During her November 4 concert at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena, Hill defended herself against complaints of her recent string of cancellations and late appearances. “They say, ‘she’s late a lot’,” she said. “Yo, y’all lucky I make it on this stage every night.”
In January 2022, the Fugees cancelled their planned tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of their seminal sophomore LP, ‘The Score’. In a statement made to social media, they wrote: “The continued Covid pandemic has made touring conditions difficult, and we want to make sure we keep our fans and ourselves healthy and safe.” In April 2022, Fugees member Pras Michel was convicted for his involvement in a billion-dollar money laundering scheme on 10 federal counts. Michel’s legal issues would later be found to be a major reason for the cancellation of the Fugees’ anniversary tour.
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Eli Ordonez
NME
