The Fugees announced Friday that their hotly-anticipated reunion tour, which was slated to begin Tuesday in Chicago, has been pushed back to early 2022.
According to a statement posted on the trio’s official Instagram page, the decision to postpone the tour was made in hopes of ensuring that “all cities on the tour are fully open so we can perform for as many fans as possible.”
As frustrating as this might be, the decision ultimately makes sense. We are still very much amid a pandemic, after all.
But don’t fret too much, folks. The statement went on to say that because of the excitement surrounding the long-awaited reunion tour, more performances and cities will be added to the list of stops.
More info on that and the rescheduled dates for the 2021 shows is forthcoming.
Fugees originally announced the international tour last month after Wyclef Jean, Lauryn Hill and Pras Michel performed together for the first time in 15 years during Global Citizen Live–a 24-hour live-streamed charity festival.
The tour is to serve as a commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the group’s groundbreaking and iconic album The Score, which was released in 1996.
Jean, Hill and Michel’s performance during Global Citizen Live was widely praised. Here’s a bit of what Matthew Ruiz wrote about the show for Pitchfork:
And the experience truly did feel miraculous—both in 1996 as it happened, and 25 years later on that Manhattan rooftop, long after many had abandoned hope of ever experiencing it again. The music was familiar but the circumstances were unique. As Wyclef closed out the show with his cover of Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry,” he called out to the crowd from behind his white hollow-body guitar in a morbid yet unifying exhortation. “If you lost somebody to COVID, put your hands in the air!” he cried, as large swaths of the 3,000 onlookers raised their arms.
Since live music returned from its pandemic-driven absence, I’ve noticed a shift, a near-elimination of the kind of expectation and entitlement that permeates big shows like this. Right until the moment the show began, some of the more experienced members of the crowd were skeptical that it ever would. But it didn’t matter.
Because after 15 years of waiting—the last two spent mostly indoors—we were just happy to be there, each moment a gift.