The weather just didn't want to cooperate with the Black Eyed Peas, Taylor Swift and the other artists slated to perform in New York's Central Park on Thursday night at a concert to benefit the Robin Hood Foundation anti-poverty organization. After a number of delays, and before anyone could take the stage, the Concert 4 NYC had been canceled.
The show, which had been slated to take place on Central Park's Great Lawn and was expected to draw an audience of approximately 60,000 fans, initially was just delayed but concert promoters eventually decided to pull the plug on the event as the weather worsened and thunder and rain rolled in, Billboard.com reports. Among the other acts that had been scheduled to perform were Debbie Harry, LL Cool J and Natasha Bedingfield.
A rep for the concert has confirmed to MTV News that no new date has been scheduled. In a statement, the Robin Hood Foundation said, "The heat wasn't going to stop them, the rain wasn't going to stop them, but the lightning — it stopped them. It came down to safety for everyone. Organizers are hoping to reschedule, so ticket buyers should hold onto their tickets. Robinhood.org will have information in the next week or so."
The artists themselves also have apologized to fans for the cancelation. Swift tweeted, "I was like 'I get to sing with Fergie in NYC?!' and then there was rain and lightning and they're like 'it's cancelled' and I was like [sad emoticon]."
The Black Eyed Peas, who reportedly performed an intimate show backstage for fans, also took to Twitter to posted about the nixed concert. "I'm so sad the show got postponed," will.i.am wrote.
"Fergie is really sorry it's not happening we feel horrible," Taboo added on his Twitter page. "We are devastated and Fergie told me to tweet this she loves u all ... I hope that the concert will be rescheduled ASAP, our pea-ple deserve it, my pea-ple from chase and robinhood deserve this NYC we love u."