Justin Bieber fans can get pretty angry -- say, when a non-Belieber misspells his name (as one unfortunate tweeter did after running into the singer at Movida), or when someone else gets to have a meet-and-greet with him. As evidenced by Saturday night’s concert, Beliebers’ parents’ are prone to anger too, especially after 10pm on a school night.
As she walked her daughter out of Bieber’s late-running concert before he returned for his two-song encore, South African Jenny Stark said she found the performer’s late show “disrespectful” and said she was moving early to get a head start on the traffic that was expected when 27,000 people tried to leave the Sevens venue. “We had spoken about when we would leave, we were prepared to walk out if he wasn’t on by 10.30,” added the mum. Bieber took the stage at 10.10pm.
The singer was due to take the stage again on Sunday night, and organisers Done Events said they hoped he would be on at 8pm as planned.
“Firstly we would like to send our thanks out to all those die-hard Bieber fans who helped us to put on the biggest concert ever in Dubai and of course the partners and sponsors of this 27,000 guest concert. Recent shows on this tour have started late and so the artist was also later than scheduled in taking to the stage last night. We really empathise with the fans and their parents who were affected by the delay and to whom this might have caused some inconvenience. We know that many parents had to look after tired and exhausted children both at the stadium and I am sure this morning, as they try to get them up for school,” said Done Events COO Thomas Ovesen in a statement. “With the final night of his tour here in Dubai happening tonight, we are still very much expecting the artist to start the show at 8pm as scheduled but urge fans again to come well prepared if the show time again is moved a little.”
While the parents were worried about early morning starts and traffic, the singer’s young fans reported they loved the concert. “It was a really great show, but I wish he had come on time,” said Tansin Huq, 10. Savannah Ansell, 12, attending with her family, loved every moment. “It was amazing, I liked that he had a story for each song. We were going to leave and said we’ll give it five minutes because we couldn’t find one person [in the group]. And then he came on.” Roger Thompson carried a sleeping girl on his shoulder, and said it was a show by a professional. “He should have come out earlier but we stayed until the end. Did you like it?” he asked his daughter, who lifted her head and gave a sleepy nod.
