BRITISH POP songstress Katie Melua abandoned the Portuguese television channel TVI’s 15th anniversary variety show after her live performance was delayed by more than an hour.
When performances during the televised celebration at the Coliseu dos Recreios in Lisbon were delayed, the singer, who was due to start at 11pm, left around midnight without singing.
“It was very annoying. All that I know is that I was supposed to perform at 11pm and an hour later no-one could tell me when I was going to sing,” she told Portuguese national newspaper Correio da Manhã.
Katie Melua added: “As I had gotten up very early and the next day I had to be at the recordings for a soap opera, I thought the whole thing was madness. So I decided to leave.”
TVI had to improvise an ending for the event, and a spokesman for the channel said: “We regret what happened but are very surprised.”
A spokesman for Farol, the company responsible for the singer’s visit to Portugal, said that Katie Melua abandoning the event had nothing to do with money.
“She was not going to earn any money to perform at the event because she was doing a promotional tour in Portugal,” said the spokesman. “Katie got up at 4am that day to fly to Portugal. The event was delayed and Katie would have performed very late and would have been in no condition to sing live.”
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