Rihanna's "Anti" World Tour was set to kick off on Feb. 26, but the singer has now postponed the start date. This comes a little less than a week after she cancelled her Grammys performance just hours before she was supposed to hit the stage, and the reasoning for everything is still unclear.
The first tour date was supposed to take place at San Diego's Viejas Arena, but the tour will now begin on March 12 in Jacksonville, Fla., the 27-year-old singer's rep told Us Weekly. The first eight dates of the tour, which included stops in San Diego, Houston, Austin, Dallas, Atlanta, Phoenix, New Orleans, Oakland and San Jose, have been switched to different dates in May due to "production delays."
Apparently, some of the venues were already aware that this was going to happen way before Rihanna made the official announcement.
"Live Nation and or Tickemaster, I can't remember which one, gave my boss the heads up that Rihanna may reschedule her performance at Viejas Arena on Feb. 26," a box office representative at Viejas Arena named Crystal told Hollywood Life prior to the announcement. "It's not official what's happening yet. We're still selling tickets for the show but nothing is official. It kinda sucks."
This could have something to do with the fact that Rihanna backed out of her Grammy's performance at the last minute. Even though her rep released a statement after rehearsal saying that her doctor had put her on 48-hour vocal rest "because she was at risk of hemorrhaging her vocal chords" due to bronchitis, rumors began to go around that she had cancelled for other reasons.
Sources were saying that Rihanna reportedly had a meltdown prior to the show and was "screaming and hysterical" because she was not pleased with how things were going during rehearsals, as HNGN previously reported. While this was neither confirmed nor denied, these sources claimed they saw her "loudly expressing" how upset she was and that this was the real reason she cancelled the performance. Whether or not this has anything to do with her postponing her tour is unknown.
For the full list of new tour dates click here.
