NORFOLK, Va. — Indie pop band AJR announced early Tuesday that its concert planned at Norfolk Scope Arena that evening was cancelled because the venue was too small for "the scale of the show."
The band had planned to start The Maybe Man Tour — which is their first national arena tour — with the April 2 show in Norfolk. The tour will now kick off in Philadelphia on Wednesday.
Around 1 a.m., AJR guitarist and singer, Jack Met, posted on the band's social media pages, saying: "We've come to the decision that we have to cancel the show in Norfolk, Virginia. We're gonna reschedule as soon as we can ... We touched down in Norfolk, we thought everything was fine, and we got the venue and we didn't know this, but this venue can't accommodate the show we want to do size-wise."
He continued saying, "Something got lost in communication. I truly don't know what happened."
Met did not say when rescheduling of the event would happen or why communication issues occurred.
The City of Norfolk said the Scope was expected to host more than 5,800 AJR fans Tuesday night.
"The City of Norfolk is disappointed by the decision of the AJR tour to postpone this evening’s show which was booked with Scope Arena a year ago. The 11,000-seat Scope Arena has hosted many elaborate music and entertainment productions, including Kevin Hart, Cirque du Soleil, Patriotic Festival, and internationally recognized entertainers, showcasing the venue’s capabilities to provide awe-inspiring and memorable experiences," according to an emailed statement from the city.
Although the city was disheartened by the announcement, a spokesperson added that Norfolk "looks forward to hosting AJR and their loyal fans very soon."
Hours later in the early afternoon, both Scope Arena and Ticketmaster sent emails notifying ticketholders that the show had been postponed.
"Due to unanticipated production issues, tonight's AJR performance has been postponed," the arena's email said.
According to Ticketmaster's email, already-purchased tickets will be valid for the new date. However, there is still no word on when the event will be rescheduled.
Fans unfortunately cannot receive a refund at this time, according to Ticketmaster, and will have to wait for one of the following situations:
- If 60 days have passed since a show was postponed and no rescheduled dates have been announced, the 30-day window for refunds will open at that time. You will be able to request a refund via your Ticketmaster account.
- If, during this 6-day postponement window, your event is rescheduled, a 30-day window for refunds will also be made available.
- If the event is canceled (at any time), refunds (as well as a possible credit option) will be available.
AJR says all other concerts in the tour are unaffected and will go on as planned.
Stay with 13News Now as the story develops.