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Shakira planned to act against hundreds of thousands of fans in Santiago, Chile in their consecutive concerts scheduled for March 2 and 3 at the National Stadium. Instead, he formed an improvised performance outside his hotel, where he sang “anthology” for fans who had gathered instead of seeing her on stage. “I couldn’t leave without singing them with the promise that I will soon return,” he wrote in the photo foot.

Less than a month after starting their world tour, women no longer cry, Shakira has postponed a total of four concerts in Latin America: one for medical reasons, and three due to stage production problems, causing a lot of stir among fans of the region that have expressed their frustration in social networks due to last -moment cancellations.

On March 2, just a few hours before his concert scheduled at the National Stadium of Santiago de Chile, Shakira published an extensive statement explaining that, due to security concerns with the setting of the stage, he had to cancel the show of that night, less than a week after canceling his concert in Medellín, Colombia for similar reasons.

“When an artist travels to a country, his production and his team come to depend directly on local producers,” the Colombian superstar wrote. “My staff and I trust at all times when the producer hired by the local promoter would follow the specifications that were diligently provided by us so that a show could be given of the magnitude of this.”

It is not uncommon for artists to cancel concerts due to production problems, especially when it comes to mass productions in old stages or buildings in Latin America that perhaps lack the infrastructure to carry out such complex productions.

But when a global star like Shakira – who points out in his statement that he has been working “for a year in the slightest details” and whose return to the stage after seven years is more than transcendental – cancels three shows at the beginning of his long -awaited stadium tour in Latin America citing production reasons, it can be quite alarming. Even more when the problems he quotes, as how much weight the soil can support, they identify at the last moment.

Fenix ​​Entertainment, the local promoter behind the concert in Chile, also issued a statement on Sunday basically stating what Shakira had already said. “We have encountered technical inconveniences outside the artist and its production that prevent the correct development of the concert, since the floor where the stage would go is uneven,” he said in his statement. A day later, Fenix ​​confirmed that the second show at the National Stadium on March 3 would also be postponed. “During the last hours, the promoter and the local production team have been in work sessions to find a solution to the construction difficulties that prevented yesterday’s concert. At this time, the concert tonight will not be possible.”

However, Fenix ​​told Billboard That he hoped to announce new dates this week, and the promoter is “confident” that production problems will be solved for these future shows, especially as the tour progresses.

Unlike their change from sands to stadiums in the United States, the Latin American section of the tour The women no longer cry of Shakira was always scheduled for stages. Production problems and sudden cancellations open a pandora box about whether local promoters have the capacity and resources to make this an agile process for the artist.

According to Shakira, the scenario of his tour weighs 62 tons, and the slope of the stage would compromise his safety and that of his band, dancers and fans. In Medellín it was the roof of the Atanasio Girardot stadium that was damaged. The local promoter hired for that show explained that her decision to cancel the February 24 concert had been taken due to a risk to the safety of artists, staff and crowd.

The Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (SIC) of Colombia has now intervened in the case to protect the rights of consumers and has extended the deadline, from February 28 to March 20, so that the organizers Ticket Colombia and Promotora Colombia announce a new reprogrammed date.

“Promotora Colombia SAS requested an extension for compliance, arguing that the reprogramming of the event requires a complex logistics deployment and the coordination of all the interveners,” says the SIC statement. “He also indicated that the request for extension is due to the fact that it has not been possible to arrange a date among all the actors involved in the planning of the event, especially by the artist’s agenda. In addition, he pointed out that given the impossibility of defining the new date within the deadline granted by this entity, it would be forced to cancel the concert and proceed with the return of money.”

Shakira’s tour of Latin America began on February 11 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in the Olympic Estadio Nilton Santos, and will continue until April 2 before starting the US stage on May 13 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Even with the dates affected by production problems, Shakira’s four shows in Colombia gave cities such as Bogotá and Barranquilla a great economic impulse, a wink to the impact of the tour beyond the cultural. According to official figures issued by the local government, Shakira’s concerts generated an economic impact of almost 206,000 million pesos (approximately 52 million dollars). In addition, spending on key sectors such as food, hospitality and multiplier effect only in Bogotá represented 73,000 million pesos, which further demonstrates the impact on the local economy.

The Tour women no longer cry from Shakira – in honor of their successful homonym album of 2024 – its world tour of 2018 follows, and marks its great return to global stages. The next city on the itinerary is Buenos Aires, Argentina, where it will act in the Argentine Pole field on March 7 and 8.

Billboard He sent requests for comments to Live Nation (the promoter behind the tour women no longer cry World Tour), without receiving response at the time of this publication.