Britney Spears walked off stage shortly after the start of a concert last night at Vancouver’s GM Place, leaving the crowd to sit in the dark for 30 minutes. The Vancouver Sun reports that a voice came on the venue’s loudspeaker during the dark period informing the audience that cigarette smoke was to blame. "It’s become uncomfortable and unsafe for the performers, including Ms. Spears," the voice said. "The show will resume as soon as the air around the stage is clear." Chanting and booing ensued until Spears finally came back to finish the show. The Associated Press reports that after the concert, Spears’s publicist issued a statement saying "crew members above the stage became ill due to a ventilation issue."
Talk about it in Music Mix:
Britney Spears’ onstage antics: Watch the (NSFW) clip
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Right. As if she doesn’t breathe in tons of smoke at the bars and parties she frequents. She, herself, is a smoker. What a ditz.
The worst news, however, is that apparently, according to this article, the city of Vancouver has lost the letter “c” in its name.
Let’s hope they find it soon.
Maybe she was getting the urge to have some fun with her Vernon ,bc boy friend Jacob Gump
Her managers called of the show for other workers safety not hers you ditz.
I don’t get why this story is everywhere. She stopped the show for a bit and then resumed and finished it. So what?
Ah yes, Britney’s a “ditz” because she was named as being one of a group of people affected by the lack of ventilation in the venue. Her crew was affected because they were working above her with no ventilation and became ill. She was affected because a successful show is dependent on functioning crew – i.e., in order for the show to go on, her crew has to be able to be breathe.
Reading comprehension, kiddies. Is it really so hard to understand a single paragraph? This here’s two, so I’ve probably lost you.
Britney is one of the best people!
You go Brit…Even smokers can be overcome with too much smoke! At least she stood up for her crew and their health that shows she cares!!!!!
Proper thing. BC, like most all of Canada, is smokefree indoors, including GM Place. Arena management should have had ushers removing offenders. The fact that enough people were allowed to illegally smoke in the arena to cause staff to become ill shows that arena management is too complacent with rule violators/law breakers. Time to crack down. What’s the point of having this smoke-free law if it’s not enforced?
Alt theory: it wasn’t about cigarette smoke. Arenas in Canada have been smoke-free for so long, it’s now exceedingly rare for audience members to try smoking. If her crew smoked their faces off the entire time they were setting up the stage earlier in the day…nope, still makes no sense.
Oh, good! Vancouver got it’s “c” back, except on the front page of EW where this story is referenced with the “c”-less spelling.
Go away , Britney! You’re a has-been and nobody cares anymore.
I am a former smoker, quit 3 1/2 years ago. Please, don’t use the excuse cigi smoke caused all this? There would have to be more than just one person smoking, in front of the stage to make anyone sick. Did 10 people smoke in front of the stage? I don’t think so. Britney probably got a run in her pantyhose and freaked out.
IT DIDNT SAY SHE WAS THE ISSUE.
IT SAYS HER CREW MEMBERS ABOVE THE STAGE, you know, the ones that deal with sound, lighting and the rest? THEY LEFT THE AREA BECUASE THEY WERE GETTING SICK due to poor ventilation!!
First of all, Britney smokes, so what’s with all the “drama”. Second of all, what is it with these young performers and their complete lack of professionalism? I can’t imagine spending a lot of money to see Spears perform and then have her pull a histrionic fit for no reason. I don’t mind spending a lot of money on concert tickets for bands like Fleetwood Mac or U2 because I know that I’m getting a top notch performance without nonsense. These pop idiots who behave in this manner are incredibly disrespectful to their (presumably) young audience. I think they forget where their paycheck comes from.
Even if she is a smoker, it’s quite a different environment if you’re singing and dancing/running around the stage. She’s not standing around in a bar with friends, it’s a physically taxing job she has. You people condemning her should get off of your fat asses and put your smokes down.
Britney is and has always been a mess. The women smokes cigarettes on a daily basis so I don’t think that smoking was the issue because it is not as if she worried about her voice because she does not sing live.
I was wondering when this tour would start to unravel and it is already happening. From the very vulgar and inappropriate comments that she has made from the stage to her lack of professionalism, it amazes how people spend hundreds of dollars to see this garbage. She does not care about her fans. The people who are running her estate want money and that is it. Who cares if the fans get their money’s worth.
The other thing to remember is that she doesn’t even sing in concert, she lip-syncs. I’ve never gone to a concert where there wasn’t smoking so for her to express this faux outrage is ludicrous. Jessica Simpson was recently fired from her label for her overall lack of professionalism (and because she’s vapid and talentless). Britney might wake up one day and find that people are no longer interested in her “performances”, both professional and personal.
I was there at the show. There was little if any smoke -I didn’t smell or see it. We were baffled why she left the stage. Waste of money and time.
First of all – she doesn’t sing. She lip-synchs. Secondly, I have never seena picture of her off stage where she wasn’t smoking a Marlboro down to the nub. Give me a break..she’s just acting squirrelly again.
yeah, from someone who was there, the half hour break was a total joke. people not only boo’d. i was a big fan of the “bullsh*t” chant as well. the smoke really wasn’t anything different than i’ve seen at any other show, but the venue should have turned their fans on. that being said, britney should have too. far too much momentum was lost in the half hour wait and her return to the stage (without any explanation or acknowledgement of what had happened) was far from lackluster. she could have at least said something to the thousands of people who paid hundreds of dollars for their tickets to smooth everything over, but i guess that would have involved turning on her microphone….
Smoke? Come on people. This is Vancouver. You can’t even smoke on outdoor patios nevermind indoors. Do you really think there was a stream of smokers just puffing away inside GM Place? Get real. Security would have had them removed immediately.
I dont remember anything like this happening BEFORE the smoking bans went into effect!
She’s a freaking smoker!! How hilarious that she’s complaining about someone else blowing smoke in her face! Now you know how the rest of us feel with second hand smoke dumb dumb.
It’s Vancouver!
Weed is practically legal here.
She turned her mic on twice in Edmonton and once it was to curse (F*&#) at the audience. It was nice for the kids to hear
Not for or against what happened with Britney, I just wanted to address the comment about how this didn’t happen at concerts before smoking bans. Actually, it has always been a problem for some artists. One example – I can remember being at a Van Morrison concert back in the 70’s and he walked off because it affected his singing when people wouldn’t stop smoking.
Didn’t she ever hear he phrase “the show must go on”? I saw Aretha in NYC,when she had a bad case of laryngitis. Did she cancel? NO. She was great even with a compromised voice. I have great RESPECT (a pun) for such professionals.
Poor Britney. What a joke!
Good thing she wasn’t around in the sixties and seventies. She would have lasted 3 about minutes on stage.