T

housands of Paramore fans were left disappointment as their beloved American band announced a few hours before their concert that they could not perform, which was supposed to be held at the Indonesia Convention Exhibition (ICE), BSD, Tangerang, on Friday.

Singer Hayley Williams wrote on the band’s official Facebook account on Friday that she had been fighting a throat and upper-respiratory infection for the last two days.

“It’s a pretty nasty sickness but if I could have been able to get my voice to come through the guys and I would’ve done the show tonight. Unfortunately, my throat hasn’t loosened up and the rest of my symptoms have only gotten worse,” she said in the post.  

“After being diagnosed by a doctor here in Jakarta, our team decided that it would be right to postpone the show tonight in Jakarta as well as the next show in Manila to later this year.”

She continued to say that the band would return to Manila on Aug. 23 and were hard at work with the promoters to secure a date for their return to Indonesia. Paramore was previously scheduled to have their Tour Four concert in Manila on Feb. 18.

“Please hold on to your tickets if you already have them,” she said.

Heart-broken fans, especially those who flew from neighboring countries like Malaysia and the Philippines to Jakarta, expressed their disappointment on social media, but most said they understood and hoped that Williams would get well soon.

One of the passionate Indonesian fans, Tyresa Puspitasari, said she came all the way from Bintaro, South Tangerang, along with her high school peers to watch the most awaited gig in town on Friday. She said that previously, the audience was asked to enter the concert’s venue at 4 p.m.

Tyresa said she was vigorously excited and immediately headed to the hall along with other concert-goers who immediately filled the first row, waiting for Williams and the band to show up. But they did not.   

Afterwards, Paramore’s solemn song titled “The Only Exception” was played through the loudspeakers. As their endearing passion and infinite support toward the band was strong, the audience sang the entire song together, hoping that the band would show up on the stage.

After the song was played the second time, Okto Beri, a representative from promoter MCM Live, got on stage to apologize that the concert had to be postponed, tribunnews.com reported.

Tyresa said she heard the announcement and felt terribly sad not to be able to watch Williams and her band mates.

“As a hardcore fan of Paramore, I have been waiting since forever to get in line and watch her sing live in person. I really do hope that they can return to Jakarta sometime in the future. I am more than willing to keep my ticket if they are going to come back this year,” Tyresa told the Jakarta Post.

Sudhir Syal, the CEO of official ticketing partner Bookmyshow Indonesia, said in a statement that while the promoter and the band were working to reschedule the show for August, they would offer the audience two options — they can keep their ticket until a fixed date for the rescheduled show is announced, or they could get a refund.

“We know you are disappointed but please bear with us as we clarify the rescheduled date,” he said on the website.
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The Jakarta Post’s intern Ardisa Pradhita contributed to this story.