Lauryn Hill and the Fugees have cancelled a US tour that was due to begin on Friday.
Concert dates posted on Ticketmaster were updated Tuesday to report that they had been canceled, while show listings on promoter Live Nation’s website informed ticket holders that their money would soon be refunded. Representatives for Hill and Live Nation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Billed as the “Miseducation” anniversary tour, the tour was supposed to feature Hill and her Fugees bandmates Wyclef Jean and Pras Michel performing music from the Fugees’ seven-times platinum 1996 album “The Source” and Hill’s Grammy-winning 1998 solo debut, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.” It was scheduled to kick off Friday in Tampa, Florida, and run through mid-September, with a Sept. 17 stop at the Hollywood Bowl, where Hill brought a 20th anniversary tour based on “Miseducation” in 2018. The cancellation was previously reported by Variety.
After not performing together for 15 years, the Fugees — known for expanding the role of melody and live instrumentation in hip-hop with hits like “Ready or Not” and their hit rendition of Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly With His Song” — announced a reunion tour in 2021 but only played one date before canceling the tour as a result of what the group said were pandemic-related difficulties. Hill and the Fugees toured again in late 2023 only to end up canceling concert dates for a second time, with Hill citing “serious vocal strain.”
Before canceling the 2023 tour, Hill made headlines with a performance at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena, where she gave a viral six-minute speech about her reputation for starting shows late (“You’re lucky I get to make it to this… stage every night,” she told the audience) and what she characterized as her mistreatment by the recording industry.
