Hip-hop group the Fugees have cancelled the reunion tour planned to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their acclaimed album The Score due to ongoing pandemic challenges, the group announced Friday.
“The continued Covid pandemic has made touring conditions difficult, and we want to make sure we keep our fans and ourselves healthy and safe,” the group, which consists of Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean and Pras Michel, said in a statement posted to Instagram. “If opportunity, public safety, and scheduling allow, we hope to be able to revisit this again sometime soon.”
The 12-city tour, announced in September 2021, was heralded with a concert in New York (that started, in typical Fugees fashion, three and half hours late), the group’s first in 15 years.
“We’re grateful for the special night we did get to share with you in New York, with that rare live moment,” they said in the statement, but concluded it “may not currently be our time for revisiting this past work”.
The Score, released to critical acclaim in 1996, earned two Grammy awards and made the Fugees the first hip-hop group to be nominated for album of the year. The album, featuring hit singles Ready or Not and Killing Me Softly, was also a commercial smash, selling over 22m copies worldwide.
It was also their last album as a group. Hill went on to record The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill in 1998, which won five Grammys, while Jean and Michel both released several solo projects.
The Fugees are not the only group thwarted by the challenges of putting on a live show during the omicron surge. Earlier this week, the Grammys announced a rescheduled date in April, and Adele postponed her three-month residency in Las Vegas due to Covid issues.
“I’m so sorry, but my show isn’t ready,” the singer announced in a tearful Instagram post. “We’ve been absolutely destroyed by delivery delays and Covid. Half my crew … are down with Covid – they still are – and it’s been impossible to finish the show.”
