Erykah Badu cancels headline festival performance just hours before she’s due on stage-Rebecca Sayce-Entertainment – Metro

Erykah was set to headline the summer festival (Picture: Jim Dyson/Getty Images)

Erykah Badu cancelled her headline performance at this year’s Cross The Tracks on the day she was set to hit the stage.

The soul icon, 53, was among the huge acts set to perform at the Brighton festival, but organisers took to Instagram to announce her headline set would no longer take place just hours before fans were meant to arrive.

Posting a picture of the stage, they said they were ‘utterly devastated’ that the Didn’t Cha Know hitmaker would not be able to perform due to illness, despite sound-checking this morning.

‘We are utterly devastated to inform you that Erykah Badu will no longer be playing Cross The Tracks 2024,’ the statement began.

‘We have spent the last 18 months working to secure this booking for her fans, her touring party has already arrived in London and has been sound-checking all morning but unfortunately due to illness, Erykah will be unable to make it.

‘We know what this means to you all, because it means the very same to us and this is a particularly hard message to be sharing. We’re so grateful in advance for your understanding about these matters, which are completely out of our control and we hope that you still enjoy the rest of this fantastic lineup, as we’ve been working tirelessly to curate the very best day for you all.’

Cross The Tracks organisers announced the news on Instagram (Picture: Instagram/Cross The Tracks)

They went on to urge attendees to check out the ’70 incredible acts’ that are also set to perform, with the lineup including Eve, Madlib, BADBADNOTGOOD, and En Vogue.

They continued: ‘This day isn’t just about one act, it’s about 70 incredible acts, shaping and defining the genres we love globally. Please stay tuned to the set times on Woov, as some things will be moving about; En Vogue will be closing out the main stage in all their glory and Freddie Gibbs & Madlib will now appear live on main stage in addition to Madlib’s previously scheduled DJ set on stage 2.

‘From a team of avid music lovers, #xthetracks24 will still be a true display of the brilliance and talent within jazz, funk and soul.’

Badu will no longer perform her headline set due to illness (Picture: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)

Fans were quick to share their well wishes for Badu while expressing their disappointment they would not see her perform.

‘This is heartbreaking. I hope she feels better soon. Before people start asking for refunds. Please remember how hard it is for festivals to continue to run in this climate. There are still so many other great artists to see. Let’s continue to show support,’ ms_seraphine wrote.

Xmissvaleria said: ‘Refund better be an option. Many people are there for Erykah only,’ with Caity_jamie agreeing: ‘yeah refund i don’t understand this is totally unreasonable 6 hours before.’

Fans shared messaged of support and wellness with the iconic soul singer (Picture: Andy Sheppard/Redferns via Getty Images)

Offkeybeatz reasoned: ‘Freddie Gibbs and Madlib are an awesome replacement to pull off last min and even if you’re not into that then here’s a whole load of other great artists to check out 🔥🔥🔥 you people asking for refunds really don’t realise how tough it is for independent festivals to survive these days, nevermind the fact that the organisers have been left holding the bag after paying for an artist to perform who drops out on the day.’

Eniz_menendez also said: ‘Sad but still gonna be a vibe – line up is amazing, let’s go Freddie Gibbs and Madlib! 🔥🔥🔥.’

The news comes after the singer took a swipe at Beyonce earlier this year in the run-up to the release of her hit album Cowboy Carter, accusing her of copying her signature style – and not for the first time.

It comes after the singer reignited her feud with Beyonce earlier this year (Picture: Andreas Rentz/Getty Images for GQ Germany)

When the TEXAS HOLD ‘EM singer, 42, unveiled the limited-edition vinyl cover on Instagram, Badu shared the image to her Stories with the caption ‘Hmmm.’

Following this, she took to Twitter in a bid to publicly reach out to Beyonce’s husband Jay Z, begging him to speak up.

‘To Jay Z . Say somethin Jay . You gone let this woman and these bees do this to me?? [sic],’ Erykah tweeted to her 2.7m followers.

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