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‘This has never happened to us before’: Trevor Noah cancels both shows in Bengaluru

He added: "We tried everything but because the audience can’t hear the comedians on stage there’s literally no way to do a show."

South First Desk

Published Sep 28, 2023 | 12:24 AM ⚊ Updated Sep 28, 2023 | 8:28 AM

File photo of Trevor Noah.

File photo of Trevor Noah. (TrevorNoah/Facebook)

“Five minutes never mean five minutes,” joked US-based TV show host and comedian in New Delhi on 23 September — his first stand-up gig in India.

He performed two more shows there as part of his “Off The Record” tour before moving to Bengaluru, where he was to perform on Wednesday, 27 September, and Thursday.

Then, Bengaluru and logistics struck. What was an eagerly waited gig turned out to be a non-starter, for various reasons, and they included the aforementioned butt of Noah’s own joke from Delhi: “Five minutes never mean five minutes.”

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The announcement

Attendees of the event at the Manpho Convention Centre in the Nagavara area of Bengaluru said on social media that Noah did start his set, albeit late, and did not continue for too long.

Then, a little before 9 pm on Wednesday, Noah took to X (formerly Twitter) and declared: “Dear Bengalaru India, I was so looking forward to performing in your amazing city but due to technical issues we’ve been forced to cancel both shows. [sic]”

He added: “We tried everything but because the audience can’t hear the comedians on stage there’s literally no way to do a show.”

Noah, who hosted the acclaimed The Daily Show on US television for nearly a decade, also said: “We’ll make sure all ticket holders receive a full refund and again I’m so sorry for both the inconvenience and disappointment this has never happened to us before.”

Noah is now expected to move to Mumbai for the last leg of his “Off The Record” tour in India. He is scheduled to perform on 30 September and 1 October there.

Also read: Fans, public furious as AR Rahman’s concert turns chaotic

The traffic problems

From delays on the road to “technical difficulties”, as Noah put them, his performance was affected for a number of reasons.

One reason turned out to be the infamous Bengaluru traffic, which many complained was number to bumper on the Outer Ring Road (ORR).

One individual said Noah himself was stuck in the traffic and was late by 30 minutes to reach the venue. This user of X also claimed: “He’s probably already writing jokes on BLR’s traffic.”

The popular X handle “Peak Bengaluru”, which is known to post content that highlights uniquely Bengalurean aspects of the city’s people and businesses, quoted another person’s post who was looking to sell tickets to Noah’s Wednesday-evening show.

The individual who put out the original post claimed that a friend was stuck in the ORR traffic, and that the tickets — originally costing ₹6,500 — were up for sale for ₹5,000.

Some attendees also said that the traffic kept many people from reaching the venue in time, leading to vacant seats at the auditorium.

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Problems at the venue

Some attendees at the venue said that there was a problem with the sound, with a section of the audience unable to hear either Noah or the comedian who opened for him.

Here, Noah can be seen trying to work with the logistics team to solve the issues with acoustics at the convention centre.

There were also complaints that there was no parking at the venue. As one person pointed out: Anyone buying a ticket for ₹12,000 was not going to use public transport to arrive at the venue.

There were also complaints that there were no air-conditioners at the venue, and that it was claustrophobic.

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