Support truly
independent journalism
Lauryn Hill and the Fugees have quietly cancelled their US tour just three days before the first scheduled date.
No reason was given to fans as refund notices were sent out, and the tour dates were removed from Ticketmaster.
Fans shared screenshots of a message they received from promoter LiveNation, which stated: “Your event has been cancelled. A refund will be on its way to your account soon.”
Billed as the Miseducation anniversary tour, the shows were supposed to feature Hill and her Fugees bandmates Wyclef Jean and Pras Michel.
Meanwhile the set was due to include songs from The Fugees’ hit 1996 album The Source, and Hill’s Grammy-winning solo debut, 1998’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
The first show of the tour was originally scheduled to take place in Tampa on Friday (9 August).
The Fugees reunited in 2021, 15 years since their last performance, but played just one concert before cancelling the tour for what they called pandemic-related difficulties.
They set out again in 2023 only to cancel their shows for a second time, which Hill said was due to her suffering “serious vocal strain”.
“I made it through each show by taking prescribed prednisone, but this can be detrimental to the body when taken in large amounts over long periods of time,” she said in a statement last year.
“In order to prevent any long-term negative effect on my voice and my body, I need to take time off to allow for real vocal recovery so that I can discontinue the medication completely.”
A number of fans expressed their disappointment at the fresh cancellation on social media, while also suggesting they should not be surprised.
“If you bought tickets to a Lauryn Hill show in 2024, you deserve everything that happened to you,” one person joked on X/Twitter.
“I want somebody to believe in me the way Lauryn Hill ticket holders believe they'll get to see her perform,” another said.
“IT’S SO DISHEARTENING BEING A FAN OF LAURYN HILL,” one fan wrote. “Last October, a hour before the show in Dallas, it was cancelled with no warning. I tried again this run even when EVERYONE clowned me saying I was foolish for trying. Cancelled AGAIN. I love Lauryn man. But damn yo. DO BETTER.”
Hill defended her notorious lateness in a statement during a concert last year, telling her audience that they were “lucky I make it on this stage every night”.
“I don’t do it because they let me do it, I do it because I stand here in the name of God!” she continued. “God is the one who allows me to do it! Who surrounded me with family and community when there was no support, when the album sold so many records, and no one showed up and said, ‘Hey would you like to make another one?’
“So I went around the world and played the same album over and over... and over again. Because we are the survivors, and we are not only the survivors, we are the thrivers,” she said.
