By IANS,
London: A considerable portion of Europe stands grounded while the deadly spew from an Icelandic volcano continues wreaking havoc and the concerns have extended to the world of showbiz, where celebrities have been compelled to defer plans to reach their destination — at least by air.
The first such case is of singer-actress Whitney Houston whose world tour faced a hurdle as she was forced to take a ferry from Britain to Ireland Friday after her flight was grounded due to the volcanic eruption.
Houston was scheduled to perform three gigs at the O2 Arena in Dublin as part of her “Nothing But Love” tour. She was fortunate enough as she reached Ireland in time to perform as scheduled – despite the 40-minute journey taking over three hours.
The other casualty came at Coachella, California, when British rockers The Cribs, Bad Lieutenant and singer Gary Numan along with five other bands had to pull out due to the volcanic eruption.
“With air travel out of Britain and Europe still at a standstill, and conditions predicted to deteriorate further due to the huge cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull, the members of Bad Lieutenant and their management have come to the disappointing decision to cancel their Chicago and New York dates that had been set to take place on Monday, April 19 and Wednesday, April 21, respectively,” read a statement on the band’s official website.
Numan also announced the same.
“We have called every transatlantic airline that operates from the U.K. and not only are they not flying, they are not currently accepting any new bookings, not until Tuesday for many of them,” read Numan’s official website.
“So, even if they do allow planes to fly later on Sunday or Monday, we can’t book seats on any of them. I can’t tell you how disappointed we all are,” it further read.
British singer Boy George has also been affected by the volcano chaos, as he cancelled a show in Switzerland Saturday night.
Pop singer Mika too, who was on his way to a concert in Portugal was temporarily stuck in Paris.
Indie pop band Los Campesinos too had to cancel their gig at the Culture Shock Festival in New York, as they could not fly from their home in Cardiff, Wales.
“American Idol” runner-up Adam Lambert has also deferred his latest trip to Europe for promotion of his new album.
Disneynature’s French-American nature documentary “Oceans” also had to bear the brunt of the natural outpour when they had to cancel their presence at the world premiere of the new movie at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood Saturday.
The documentary has been narrated by Pierce Brosnan.