PITTSBURGH — The Beyoncé Renaissance Tour stop scheduled for Aug. 3 at Acrisure Stadium has been canceled.
According to a social media post from Acrisure, the date was removed “due to production logistics and scheduling issues.”
Refunds will be automatically issued at the point of purchase.
The tour was scheduled to move from Boston on Aug. 1 to Pittsburgh on Aug. 3 to Washington, D.C., on Aug. 5. Other changes to the tour: Seattle was moved from Sept. 13 to Sept. 14 and Kansas City, Missouri, from Sept. 18 to Oct. 1.
The 41-year-old pop icon is touring behind her seventh album, “Renaissance,” which topped the charts in July 2022.
The tour, her first since 2018, launched in May in Sweden and just wrapped the European leg in Warsaw, Poland, on June 27. The North American leg begins July 8 in Toronto and will run through September.
This would have been the first Beyoncé show here in eight years. In Pittsburgh, thousands of tickets were still available, as low as $50. In Boston, the lowest price is $239 and in D.C., it’s $279.
At her previous Pittsburgh show, on The Formation Tour on May 31, 2016, Beyoncé drew 36,325 to Acrisure. It was Pittsburgh debut as a solo artist, after playing the city five times with Destiny’s Child, going back to 1998.
The show was slated to be the final concert on the summer schedule for Acrisure Stadium, following sold-out shows by country star Luke Combs and Taylor Swift (two nights) and the upcoming Ed Sheeran Mathematics Tour stop Saturday.
Beyoncé is the only stadium tour this summer by a Black artist. It comes on the heels of a sold-out PPG Paints Arena show in May by Lizzo.
Pittsburgh singer/rapper Mars Jackson tweeted” “Beyoncé didn’t know how important this moment was for our black community here in Pittsburgh. We did though. Not to put the pressure on her like that but her presence was needed for us this Summer. This was going to be my first experience beside YouTube or a streaming service.”
Pittsburgh rapper Livefromthecity tweeted, “It doesn’t sit well with me that this is happening to Beyoncé but the city got renamed for Taylor Swift.”
Neosoul singer INEZ went to Twitter with, “I need you to do a big one for Pittsburgh @Beyonce we dnt have [s—] in this city for Black women. We needed this like summer rain and we being paid dust AGAIN.”
In a Facebook post, Damon Young, the Pittsburgh author of “What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker” had this alternative definition of “production and logistical issues, noting from Beyoncé's POV, "there were empty seats the last time i came and there would have been empty seats this time too, so why even come when i have sold out shows everywhere else?"
He added, “edit: so apparently her shows aren't sold out everywhere here (in america). at least not yet. still, i think pittsburgh's unique demographics (we're the whitest major metro in the country) matter here. not sure how it matters. but i'm sure it does.”
Brian Broome, a Pittsburgh author and Washington Post contributing columnist, posted on Facebook, “The fact that we were fine for 2 days of Taylor Swift and are gonna be fine for Ed Sheeran, yet Beyoncé got bumped makes me suspicious of Acrisure.”
Singer Anita Levels Brown, who starred in a recent tribute to Aretha Franklin, posted “Look yall! Pittsburgh has one of THE MOST VIBRANT LIVE MUSIC SCENES…PERIOD. And might I add, MOST REASONABLY PRICED,” and pointed to events at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center, the Black Music Festival, Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival and more. She added, “Let’s be thankful for the folks that are making live music events happen in Pittsburgh.”
Rolling Stone ran the headline “Fans Are ‘Devastated’ Beyoncé’s ‘Renaissance’ Tour Isn’t Coming to Pittsburgh Anymore” with comments from fans, including, “I am so sad and disappointed ... imagine being a fan since the time you could remember, as young as 6 and having your first Beyoncé concert be cancelled.”
On the subject of “production logistics,” a stadium official said questions should be directed to concert promoter Live Nation, which did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Beyoncé cancellation follows another pop icon, Madonna, recently scrapping her tour, including an August show at PPG Paints Arena, due to health issues.
