DISAPPOINTED FANS…Erin Mowbray (centre) with cousins Sarah and Katie McClelland
LOCAL LITTLE MIX fans were left ‘devastated’ and ‘heart-broken’ after the band cancelled their Thursday afternoon show in Belfast just minutes before they were due to go on stage.
The popular girl band was due to play a matinee and evening show at the SSE Arena, but cancelled after singer Jesy Nelson became unwell. The announcement was made just minutes after the doors opened for the afternoon performance and fans were later informed by text message that the show would not be going ahead as scheduled.
The news provoked a disappointed and angry response from both young fans and parents, many of whom had to book time off work to bring their children to Belfast.
Kathryn Ellis from Ederney was due to attend the concert with daughter Kaitlyn along with her friend Kera Timlin, her daughter Ellie and niece Sofie. Having left the house at 9am they were among the thousands in the queue when the news broke that the concert had been cancelled.
“We were in the queue and saw a man and woman heading out. To be honest I thought it was a bomb scare looking at her face. I said to her are you alright and she said that it was cancelled.”
She continued: “The girls were beside themselves, the screams of the wee girls sitting on the ground, it was awful.”
Tickets were £38 each and add in travel costs and food at the arena, it made for an expensive day out with little to show for it.
“Times are tough enough and I know children get a lot, but my daughter doesn’t. It was her first ever concert and a real treat. I’m fuming I am raging. We all can get sick don’t get me wrong, but half an hour before the doors open it’s just not acceptable.”
Janet Jones from Enniskillen attended the concert with her friend Lindsay Reid and two children Josh and Ella Jones. The concert had initially been a surprise, but after paying “over the odds” on Gumtree for tickets Janet and her children were left “gutted” at missing out on their first ever concert.
“They were really gutted and basically cried the rest of the day. It was just really disappointing, there were so many children there with posters made and t-shirts on and they were just heart-broken, it was awful.”
Valerie Mowbray, whose husband Simon is the principal of Devenish College was another to miss out. Travelling up with her six-year-old daughter Erin, sister Anne McClelland and her children Sarah and Katie they didn’t even get out of the car such was the traffic mayhem close to the arena.
“It was a very disappointing day. My daughter’s birthday is two days before Christmas so this was her birthday present. So as you can imagine there was a lot of excitement and every week it was the countdown to Little Mix.”
She continued: “We waited in traffic for 50 minutes and traffic lights must have changed ten times, but didn’t move. Then we started to see all these young girls walking in our direction and girls starting to cry. My daughter is only six and she started to get really upset and was crying. She just loves Little Mix and the three of them call themselves the Littlemixers.”
Thursday’s two concerts have since been rescheduled for Saturday July 2, 2016 and existing tickets are valid. For anyone not able to attend to attend the rescheduled shows please contact point of purchase for details of how to obtain a refund. Little Mix apologised to their fans for what they described as “unavoidable cancellations”.
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