By admin 
Jordan Williams is a longtime fan of the musical pop-rock artist, Benson Boone.
Williams, 21, has loved Boone since 2021. She admires Boone’s music so much that she and her cousin drove from the Redding area to Sacramento to see Boone perform at the Golden 1 Center Saturday. They even booked a hotel room for the occasion, Williams said.
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But after they arrived, and after spending $50 on gas, booking a hotel room and paying roughly $215 per concert ticket, Williams overheard a passerby say the concert had been canceled.
“There were just so many people walking back really sad and everything,” Williams said.
That evening, Golden 1 Center and Boone publicly announced the Sacramento leg of the artist’s Wanted Man Tour had been postponed because of the artist’s health problems. The announcement was made less than an hour before the show.
In an Instagram post, the artist wrote that the decision was due to difficulty “making (his) voice presentable.”
“I know this is extremely disappointing especially for everyone who traveled to be here,” Boone wrote. “Trust me I am disappointed too. I hate letting you guys down more than anything.”
Fan reaction in Sacramento and online
Fans of the artist have expressed both sympathy for the singer and ire over the show’s abrupt postponement.
Karen Carrillo, 24, said when she heard the news, she doubted its legitimacy. In an interview with The Sacramento Bee, she said she initially thought it was a joke.
“My first reaction when it was first announced by someone who was also in line — I thought he was joking. I seriously thought he was joking,” Carrillo said.
Carrillo, along with a friend who drove three hours to join her, waited outside in the heat for nearly an hour before getting official word the concert would not take place that night, she said. Carrillo said most people were generally understanding, if a little upset.
“We were probably just more mad because of the heat. It was just so uncomfortably, uncomfortably hot,” Carrillo said.
Fans online were blunter in expressing their disappointment. In posts on the Instagram account, @bensonboonenation, fans voiced their frustration and disappointment. One person wrote that the postponement, and its timing, was “unprofessional.”
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“I’ve never had a show canceled one hour beforehand. Understand that artist’s get sick, but this last minute seemed very unprofessional.”
Standard admission for the concert when tickets first went on sale was $95.76, while floor section prices were higher, costing around $189, according to Ticketmaster.
Boone was scheduled to perform in Los Angeles Monday night, according to his website. As of publication time, the concert was listed as still happening.
The Wanted Man Tour has both national and international dates, with Boone scheduled to travel overseas starting in October. The tour runs until November.
In a social media post, Golden 1 wrote that Boone’s tour staff will provide updates “as soon as they are available,” to the Sacramento concert ticket holders. They did not respond to an interview request from The Bee.
Ticket holders have been advised on the Center’s website that the tickets will be valid for the new concert date, whenever it’s announced.
Warner Music Group, the agency that represents Boone, also did not respond to a request for comment.
As of late Monday, Williams said her cousin got an email from the third-party ticket website, saying a refund was being offered. Since her cousin had booked their hotel room with reward points, that left them out of pocket for the gas money and the time they spent planning and arranging their night.
Williams said she wants to come back to see Boone but isn’t sure she’ll be able to fit it into her schedule.
“I’ve done a lot of singing and theater things, so I know how bad it can be for your voice if you push it too hard,” Williams said. “It did suck that it was canceled literally two hours before it was supposed to happen, but I do get choosing your health.”
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