Produced by: Hitansh Gaur
Designed by: Manoj Kumar
US-based Emmy award winning comedian Trevor Noah cancelled both of his Bengaluru shows citing a technical glitch. Noah was set to perform at the Manpho Convention Center at 7:30 pm on Wednesday and Thursday. But after he got on stage, he realised that the audience couldn’t hear him and decided to cancel the show.
The comedian issued a statement through a post on X (Twitter) which said, “Dear Bengaluru 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. We tried everything but because the audience can’t hear the comedians on stage there’s literally no way to do a show.”
The news of cancellation came after hundreds of fans travelled through hours of Bengaluru traffic for Trevor Noah’s show. Some were even unable to reach the venue and decided to give their tickets on social media for free. Noah himself arrived late at the venue due to traffic.
The popular ‘Peak Bengaluru’ page on X reacted to Noah’s post, “You deserved better here & it’s unfortunate the organisers messed it up! Look forward to welcoming you to our city again soon.”
Several fans blamed BookMyShow and other organisers for the poor choice of venue as it lacked basic facilities. “Beyond disappointed about Trevor Noah’s show getting canned in Bengaluru!! I only have BookMyShow to blame for their absolutely shoddy job of organising the most basic things,” wrote a user on X (Twitter).
Entrepreneur Ashok Karanth shared his bitter experience of attending the Trevor Noah show on X while slamming BookMyShow. He wrote, “Entry to the venue needed a QR code scan - all high-tech. One small issue - there was no mobile data access at the venue. No internet, no QR code.” He further complained of how the auditorium was a “glorified Amazon warehouse” - one large hall with no elevation, no stadium seating. He added, “We were in the eye-strain seats in row AZ - no, really. We paid Rs. 4500/- for that.”
One X user replied, “Bengaluru wanted to experience Trevor Noah, but Trevor Noah ended up experiencing Bengaluru.”
The shows in Bengaluru were part of Trevor Noah’s ‘Off The Record Tour’ in India. Apart from Bengaluru, Noah also performed in Delhi earlier this week at the Jawaharlal Nehru indoor stadium. Regarding the Bengaluru shows, Noah also said that he will ensure every ticket holder gets a refund while highlighting that something like this has never happened before.
As a part of his India tour, Trevor Noah is now set to perform at the NSCI Dome in Mumbai on September 30 and October 1. The show will begin at 7:30 pm on both days.
This is the debut India tour of the US-based comedian, who left his job as the host of popular daytime US TV show ‘The Daily Show’. Trevor Noah hosted the legendary show for seven years since 2015 when he took over from Jon Stewart. Since Noah’s resignation, producers of the show have been inviting guest hosts on a weekly basis as they are yet to announce a new permanent host.