On Monday night (Oct. 14), Hill and Wyclef were reportedly over an hour late for their concert at the O2 Arena, causing numerous fans to leave the venue prior to the duo hitting the stage.
While Hill and Wyclef eventually performed, arriving onstage around 10 p.m., the pair’s tardiness would cause their set to go beyond the 11 p.m. curfew, as they wrapped up their show approximately 25 minutes after the hour.
(FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY) (L-R) Wyclef Jean and Lauryn Hill are seen backstage during the 2024 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at Empire Polo Club on April 21, 2024 in Indio, California.
While many concertgoers who stuck around for the performance praised Hill and Wyclef for their showmanship, others expressed their ire on social media, lamenting the pair’s seeming “disrespect” towards their fans.
“Lauryn Hill concert O2 London. We have been here since 7:30. It is 9:35pm and Ms Hill still hasn’t come on stage,” one attendee wrote. “Ridiculous.”
A person claiming to work at the O2 noted that Hill was an hour late, while another says the arena was “a third empty” by the end of Hill and Wyclef’s performance, as many attendees left in order to catch public transportation home.
“First gig of the week: Lauryn Hill / Fugees…unsurprisingly she was late (again),” the disgruntled ticketholder wrote.
On Wed. 9/22, the reunited Fugees performed at Pier 17 in NYC in support of Global Citizen Live, a once-in-a-generation global broadcast event calling on world leaders to defend the planet and defeat poverty, airing on September 25. The show kicks off the Fugees 2021 World Tour.
Controversy surrounding the Fugees’ live performances has become a recurring trend, as Hill and her groupmates have become notorious for arriving late to venues and cancelling concert dates and tours altogether.
Earlier this year, Fugees member Pras Michel lashed out at Hill after she supposedly turned down a lucrative opportunity for the group to perform at Coachella without their knowledge.
According to Michel, Hill’s decision to decline the $5 million offer by Coachella was due to Hill being told that the Fugees would not be headliners at the festival.
Pras Michel, a member of the 1990’s hip-hop group the Fugees, arrives at U.S. District Court on March 31, 2023 in Washington, DC. Michel is on trial for his alleged participation in a campaign finance conspiracy.
“The reason was that her ego was bruised since the group No Doubt would be receiving top billing over The Fugees the night of their show,” the 51-year-old’s legal team surmised in a statement.
“Hill never told Pras about the offer or that she had rejected it. Pras only learned about it when it was too late, after Hill, in an astonishing display of hubris, asked Pras if he would agree to perform a few Fugees songs for free as the opening act for her son, YG Marley, who was slated to perform at the same Coachella festival.”
Hill has refuted Michel’s claims, deeming the “unwarranted attacks” as “baseless.”
Lauryn Hill attends GRAMMY Museum’s Inaugural GRAMMY Hall Of Fame Gala and Concert presented by City National Bank at The Novo by Microsoft at L.A. Live on May 21, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.
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