Jhené Aiko concert postponed at last minute as Toronto concert curse strikes again

You’ve heard of the Drake curse, of course, but did you know it’s the Toronto concert curse? Two completely separate things, but undeniably related. Jhené Aiko fans are the latest victims of the latter, as the singer-songwriter postponed her Scotiabank Arena performance last night (July 2) at the last minute.

Aiko’s Toronto Magic Hour tour, her first headlining tour in five years, was unable to take place “due to unexpected production issues.” A new date is expected to be announced in the near future and tickets will be honored.

The Toronto concert curse seems to be starting again in 2022. In February, Kacey Musgraves cancelled her damn final tour after “vital production personnel” were unable to make it in time for the show due to bad weather in Ontario. Then, Dua Lipa postponed her February show at Scotiabank Arena Nostalgia for the future until July, when unauthorized fireworks were finally set off among the crowd.

Justin Bieber postponed — and then canceled — two Toronto concerts in July as he battled symptoms of Ramsay Hunt syndrome, and The Weeknd’s hometown tour opener fell victim to the national Rogers outage that same month.

Drake then postponed his Young Money reunion due to contracting COVID-19 in August, which also saw a disastrous weekend of music festivals in GTA. (To add salt to the wound, Aiko was originally scheduled to headline the doomed Kultureland festival, but canceled her appearance when the event abruptly changed venues from Markham to Ajax.)

And Toronto has continued to foster an environment of unprecedented concert cancellations: Last year, KISS canceled their Toronto (and Ottawa) shows due to Paul Stanley’s “unexpected illness,” and SZA again canceled her shows in the city during the second half of her tour. SOS world Tour.

This year’s nostalgic hip-hop festival Hot in Toronto was recently postponed after headliner Lil Wayne canceled his appearance. Just yesterday, Heart announced the postponement of its August Toronto show (and the rest of the tour) while Ann Wilson undergoes preventative chemotherapy. Additionally, Neil Young and Crazy Horse will no longer be performing on the Budweiser stage in July.

All of which is to say that if your favourite is coming to Toronto and you’re lucky enough to attend an event that’s happening at the scheduled time, you should probably consider yourself lucky.