Janet Jackson Reschedules Dates Despite Whispers Of Soft Ticket Sales

There are rumors that ticket sales for Janet Jackson’s current Unbreakable World Tour are far below expectations. These rumors were given more strength when Janet Jackson announced that she had come down with some mystery illness and needed to reschedule the dates. Then, things turned scary as Radar Online reported that Janet Jackson could have cancer.

“RadarOnline.com has learned Janet Jackson, who recently announced she’s set to undergo surgery, has a tumor that could be cancerous. ‘Doctors found a growth on Janet’s vocal cords that could be serious,’ a source close to the 49-year-old the ‘Control’ singer told Radar.”

A couple days later, a sigh of relief hit Janet’s fans when Extra reported that Janet did not have cancer and that her tour would resume in March. Instantly, many accused Janet Jackson of staging a publicity stunt to cover up for poor ticket sales.

@embeedub So what do you think of the Janet Jackson "cancer scare." Publicity or media stunt? As someone with serious cancer this offends me

— Susan Russ (@Juniper40) January 7, 2016

Well, it ends up that no matter what the rumors were, apparently ticket sales weren’t bad enough to cancel all of Janet’s upcoming shows. Billboard reported the news first.

“Janet Jackson has made good on her word, announcing the rescheduled dates for her Unbreakable World Tour (Jan. 14). The North American leg of her global stint will be back in business on May 14 in Las Vegas, wrapping in Cleveland on Aug. 28. The European tour dates will start on March 30 in Birmingham, U.K.”

However, not all of Janet Jackson’s dates were rescheduled. Her stop in Kentucky was cancelled. WKYT has the news.

“Jackson announced the rescheduled dates for the North American leg of her Unbreakable World Tour, and Lexington was not on the list of cities where she would perform.”

It was reported that the reasons were because of “technical upgrades,” but many aren’t buying it. In fact, there are plenty of alternative venues in Kentucky where Janet Jackson can play. One wonders what other venues Janet Jackson will play in that require “technical upgrades” in the near future.

Much of the suspicion of Janet Jackson’s allegedly poor ticket sales is based on the fact that over half of the dates she has played haven’t been reported by Billboard‘s Current Boxscore chart for months. Out of the ones that were reported, shows in Grand Rapids, Michigan (8,621/9,102); Orlando, Florida (8,906/9,067); Tampa, Florida (7,702/8,811); and Minneapolis, Minnesota (8,879/10,395) did not sell out.

Those numbers aren’t awful. It’s also true that a handful of Janet’s dates have been reported as sold out. But if the unsold ones were reported and others weren’t, one has a right to wonder how low attendance numbers could have been for the unreported shows. Janet’s unreported Calgary show at the Calgary Saddledome had an attendance of 8,500, according to the Calgary Herald — a number far lower than the 19,000 listed capacity for the venue.

It’s a relief that, as of right now, Janet Jackson fans will get to see their icon perform. But as cancelled performances and maligned sales manipulation tactics have shown over the past several months, Janet Jackson certainly isn’t “unbreakable.”

[Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images]