’00s pop legend breaks silence after festival cancellation left fans devastated

A NOUGHTIES pop legend has broken his silence after one of his canceled performances left fans devastated – announcing a FREE concert taking place tomorrow.

Gareth Gates was to sing on stage at the challenge Festival in Bradford this weekend – but it has been canceled due to ‘security concerns’.

The singer – who has sold more than 3.5 million records in the UK – took to Instagram earlier today to tell his fans about the decision.

Gareth will now perform at Tapestry Arts concert venue in Bradford – and fans won’t have to pay a cent.

He said on his Instagram story: “I’m gutted. The Challenge Festival is canceled this weekend.

“I couldn’t wait to play in front of my audience.

“I was told that this was not in the hands of the organizer.

“However, I have decided to do a free concert tomorrow night at @tapestryarts for those who purchased tickets to the Big Pop festival.

“To claim your free ticket, please email @[email protected].”

Gareth was set to headline the festival, which would take place at Mrytle Park in the market town of Bingley.

Artists like Peter Andre were also expected to perform at the event.

Organizers shared the devastating news on Instagram: “We had to cancel the Challenge Festival due to safety concerns.

“Another big event canceled due to unrealistic requirements such as fencing off a wooded area in case of fire, among others.

“We’ll add more details later, totally gutted, thousands of hours and thousands of kilos wasted.”

Organizer Ian Andrews-Swailes said of the canceled festival: “I’m really gutted. This was going to be a great community event for Bingley and Myrtle Park and set a template for community events for Bradford City of Culture 2025.

“The challenge took hundreds of hours to prepare and cost me thousands of personal dollars. I financed the festival this year.

“I put so much effort into this effort for Bradford, for nothing. It’s heartbreaking. “All I wanted was to give Bingley something he could be proud of and race on his own in the future.

“The whole community of Bingley wanted this and will be absolutely gutted.

“Bradford receives a lot of negative press and I thought it was important to highlight the positive aspects of the town and district, particularly in the run-up to Bradford 2025.”

It comes weeks after Gareth shared rarely seen snaps of his daughter Missy to mark her 15th birthday.

The pop icon shares adolescence with his ex-wife Suzanne Mole.

Gareth captioned the post: “Happy birthday to my beautiful little lady @missygates_x. “

Gareth rose to fame on ITV’s Pop Idol singing competition.

He placed second behind winner Will Young.