Turnpike Troubadours / Stoney LaRue Concert Canceled Last Minute in Bossier City
A concert scheduled to occur at the Centurylink Center in Bossier City, Louisiana Friday evening (10-26) featuring the Turnpike Troubadours and Stoney LaRue was canceled unexpectedly at the last minute for undisclosed reasons. Stoney LaRue was scheduled to begin the concert at roughly 7:30 p.m. local time, but never took the stage. At 8:10, the Centurylink Center officially announced the concert had been called off.
***UPDATE: Turnpike Troubadours Cancel Show in Corpus Christi ***
“Due to unforeseen circumstances, tonight’s show has been cancelled,” a statement read. “The Turnpike Troubadours and Stoney LaRue greatly apologize for this inconvenience. Refunds for tonight’s show will be available at the original point of purchase beginning at Tuesday, 10/30/18 at Noon.”
Neither Stoney LaRue nor the Turnpike Troubadours had addressed the reason for the cancellation at the time of posting. Attendees who arrived at the venue expecting the show said that part of the arena was blacked out and it appeared the concert was undersold, but concessions were open, the merch tables were stocked, and the stage was set up for the show.
Many fans voiced their displeasure on social media, especially individuals who traveled to the area and paid for hotels and other expenses. Some speculated that the show might have been canceled due to a low gate, and the promoter unable to pay the bands. Bossier City has always been a bastion of support for the Turnpike Troubadours. One of their most well-recognized songs is named for the city.
The cancellation comes after a string of recent cancellations by the Turnpike Troubadours due to frontman Evan Felker suffering from kidney stones, and another undisclosed personal issue involving a member of the band. However the band made a triumphant return at the Medicine Stone festival in late September, and have played other shows since without issue.
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UPDATE (10/27): Stoney LaRue’s management addressed the cancellation in a statement on Saturday, but did not give any specifics for the cancellation.
Wanted everyone to know that Stoney LaRue had a great soundcheck and really wanted to play in Bossier LA last night. Right before his set the entire show was cancelled for circumstances beyond his control. Stoney wishes he could have taken the stage to play for the fans there and he as well as the band hope to be back soon for their own show. Thanks to everyone for understanding.
October 26, 2018 @ 9:10 pm
Damn what is going on with the TTs. These guys are my favorite band, but there is definitely another underlying issue going on here. I hope they do whatever is necessary to get back on track.
October 26, 2018 @ 9:23 pm
I won’t waste my time or money ever again on these guys. I’ll watch YouTube videos from this point on.
October 26, 2018 @ 9:41 pm
Were you at a recent show??
October 26, 2018 @ 9:54 pm
I was at this show.
October 27, 2018 @ 12:10 pm
Your life sounds hard.
October 27, 2018 @ 10:23 pm
I was there, at the show/concert. They canceled on us at the last minute. You think I should be ok with that?! I’d be pissed if it was ANYONE that pulled this.
October 28, 2018 @ 12:00 am
Not as hard / sad as the life of an obvious and unwavering troll, Billy Bob.
October 29, 2018 @ 10:57 am
Well one of the band members is a personal friend and his dad has been in the ICU for a month and it is any day now that he could pass. You all need to remember that they are people with families and things come up!!
October 26, 2018 @ 9:36 pm
Damn, this is tough. Hope everything’s alright first and foremost, but not sure I’d ever pay good money for tickets and travel to a TT show until they put a solid length of completed shows together.
October 26, 2018 @ 9:56 pm
Agree with Carla and Rachel. This TT drama is ridiculous. If you legitimately have medical problems like kikdney stones, take time off until it’s fixed. People will understand all day long. This is definitely sounding like an unpredictable drinking / drug / relationship drama issue. (So kill me…..that’s my opinion and this is an internet discussion forum where we all express opinions).
October 26, 2018 @ 10:30 pm
Drama all day long. I hate it for Stoney because he didn’t deserve this. I don’t know what’s going on, but my gosh, get it together guys. I’ve never been to a canceled concert, but I won’t forget this one.
October 27, 2018 @ 12:14 pm
You’re assuming it’s because of Turnpike? Maybe Stoney pushed someone down the stairs again, don’t jump to conclusions. Gotta remember they’re just people, but I’m sure you’ve never taken a “sick” day in your life.
October 27, 2018 @ 4:37 pm
Let’s get real here Jim Bob.
October 26, 2018 @ 9:59 pm
Kidney Stone II: The Calcium Phosphate Strikes Back
October 31, 2018 @ 8:02 am
Wow! maybe people will start supporting us local Musicians again instead of wasting their money on overpriced tickets and drinks On a Personal note I am glad that I switched to Playing Christian Music where people are uplifted inside instead of let down eithe5r way i wish you all the best Prayers.
October 26, 2018 @ 10:56 pm
I’m trying to determine the reason for this cancellation, but in the interim, here is some wild speculation:
I don’t think this concert was canceled due to a health or personal issue. If that was the case, it probably would have been canceled earlier, or they would be telling people they will reschedule the show as opposed to saying it is a full-on cancellation. Promoters want to reschedule shows that are postponed so that they don’t lose the money already put in their pockets via ticket sales.
This show seemed doomed from the beginning. The Centurylink Center is a 14,000-capacity venue. This is WAY too big for a Stoney LaRue/Turnpike Troubadours show, even if you block off half the arena. People who were there said they thought there was maybe 500 people in the venue. But there could have been 2,000 and it would still be empty because they booked a concert for two mid-level bands in a blimp hanger. They were running a ticket sale earlier this week for this show so clearly they were concerned about turnout. Perhaps the promoter waited to see if the walk-up numbers were any good, and when they weren’t, decided it would be cheaper to cancel than to pay Turnpike’s and Stoney LaRue’s guarantees.
Or, maybe Evan Felker was running around backstage with a lamp shade on his head. I don’t know. But if that’s the case, you postpone and reschedule. You downright cancel when this show was never going to work regardless of the circumstances. For all we know, Turnpike and Stoney LaRue got screwed on this deal just as much as the fans. We’ll just have to wait and see, if we ever learn the truth, which sometimes never comes out in these circumstances because bands don’t want to sour relationships with promoters, and vice versa.
October 26, 2018 @ 11:24 pm
So, in that scenario, you are saying that Turnpike and their management shouldn’t have been expected to be on the pulse of the current numbers / venue sizes they are pulling? They should be smart enough to not sign up for such a debacle of a show. Either way (personal issue or attendance issue), TT fans get screwed once again. Tell me, what other acts who are in the top 10 current “country” acts (as defined by readers here) these days has these types of repeated issues with live shows?
October 26, 2018 @ 11:42 pm
I’m just spitballing, and leaving open the possibility this is not a behavioral or health issue with the Turnpike Troubadours as every one is assuming. You’re totally right, management should have seen this as a bad situation, and arguably they did. That’s is why they offered a sale on tickets.
“Tell me, what other acts who are in the top 10 current “country” acts (as defined by readers here) these days has these types of repeated issues with live shows?”
I can’t name you a top 100 band as defined by Saving Country Music readers that has these issues. There is no way to sugar coat this. If I was running interference for the Turnpike Troubadours, I wouldn’t have reported on this story at all. If I had tickets to Friday night’s show, I would be livid.
October 27, 2018 @ 6:19 am
She’s got a point for sure. A simple test for the TT’s going forward might be: did Garth Brooks play this arena last year? He did? Well maybe we shouldn’t agree to headline there.
But to your point, in a situation like this there’s going to be a lot of facts that just don’t make it to the public.
October 27, 2018 @ 7:14 am
I agree there was no reason for this show to be at the CenturyLink Center. Both of these bands have been here repeatedly at smaller venues and sell out every time, but this place is just too big for their show. The venue was practically giving away tickets this week but it still wasn’t enough I guess.
October 27, 2018 @ 7:42 pm
Absolute Gossip. But I’m hearing Evan went missing in action awhile. On a binge. Then when found and confronted he quit the band.
October 27, 2018 @ 2:06 am
Rumor mill is saying someone od’d. I’ll leave it to the professionals to determine who that someone could be.
October 27, 2018 @ 4:18 am
There is speculation all over their FB that Evan OD’d
October 27, 2018 @ 6:15 am
Hope all is well with everybody in the band. Not a good look for whomever is running the show. Several red flags, too large a venue and they could’ve judged they wouldn’t have enough tickets sold the day before and cancelled due to Evan needing vocal rest. or something.
October 27, 2018 @ 6:25 am
They are like any of my ex’s now … when their name comes up, I roll my eyes and say thank God I got out if that relationship and fell bad for the next saps.
October 27, 2018 @ 7:42 am
I was also at the “show” last night. This was very disappointing on several levels. Why have the full stage set up for both bands, back drop, lights, speakers hanging when there’s even the slightest possibility of canceling? Why would you have the full merch booth selling for 2 1/2 hours and not offer refunds on that? I paid $75 plus fees (another $20) for VIP tickets the first day tickets went on sale. I wanted my 17 year old son to have his first Turnpike / Stoney experience to be first class since he can’t get into bars and over 21 venues. To see his disappointment was the worst. The Centurylink staff were first rate people the whole time. It was disturbing to see Turnpike’s stage manager hand the announcement to the local radio station personality, who have never played TT or Stoney, and have her tell the arena of the cancellation. We deserve an explanation of what happened, although I know we’ll never hear one. I’m just very disappointed in Turnpike at this time and it will be a long time before I can listen to them again.
October 27, 2018 @ 9:39 am
Get your kid the new Nick Dittmeier & the Sawdusters album. He’ll be fine.
October 27, 2018 @ 9:54 am
“We deserve an explanation of what happened”
I’m one of those people who doesn’t like to jump to conclusions, and I’d like to give them the benefit of the doubt here, both on principal and because I like them. But, why not communicate? Shit happens. It’s how you own up to it or handle it that often matters more than what actually happened. In today’s world it take 2 seconds to post an apology on social media, etc.
My money is on something that they don’t want to talk about because it is unflattering, and they only have themselves to blame for the speculation.
October 27, 2018 @ 9:56 pm
We were there as well. Such a joke that they gave the local radio station the announcement……they don’t play TT or any country music….lol.
October 27, 2018 @ 7:54 am
It’s sad to see because they have some great musicians in that band. Who knows what happened… but if it really was cancelled due to ticket sales being too low that’s just sad. Everything is already set up, your instruments are there and you have fans waiting and kept fans waiting when in reality you could have cancelled your show inside, grabbed some acoustics and played a few songs in the parking lot or just took the loss and hit the stage harder than ever for the few fans that did show up… which was still more than The Stage at SilverStars capacity where they’ve played the last several years. The fans were there, the bands were there, and the music Never came. Even after I paid $60 for 4 drinks.
October 27, 2018 @ 8:53 am
I remember on my first ever tour, back in 1990, backing out of a gig in Florida (I can’t recall the city). We arrived to find that the promoter hadn’t posted the fliers we had sent months in advance or done any other promotional work. He hadn’t lined up any local openers, and he was trying to offer us a fraction of the money we had previously agreed on, which wasn’t much to begin with. We loved performing, even to abysmally small crowds, and wanted to play that night, but we had to stand on principle and not allow this guy to take advantage of an unsigned band that had travelled a long way to perform at his club. His explanation for the situation felt pretty rehearsed, so it was safe to say he had screwed over bands like us before. Our bass player yelled at him until he agreed to compensate us for gas, and then we loaded our gear back in the van and left.
This wasn’t a unique incident. Although there are many kind, generous, hard working promoters out there, there’s just as many who are either simply incompetent or worse, outright scum who don’t think twice about screwing over young, unsigned bands who are performing for just enough food/gas money to get them to the next show. You have to do it because you love it and be willing to stand up for yourself, even if that means cancelling a performance.
October 28, 2018 @ 12:10 am
TT is hardly a “young, unsigned band”. Inconceivable how they aren’t better managed to prevent that situation at this stage in their careers. That scenario was poor speculation even before the second canceled show proved that it wasn’t the case.
October 28, 2018 @ 8:02 am
Regardless of the second cancellation, Stoney LaRue and the Turnpike Troubadours should have never been booked at the CenturyLink Center. It was dramatically too big, the show was dramatically undersold even though the venue and the band were offering discounted tickets a week before the show, and who knows what kind of stress that caused behind-the-scenes. Obviously there is something going on that’s bigger than the CenturLink show. But that still appears to be a bad decision.
October 28, 2018 @ 8:23 am
I would hesitate to equate a higher level of success/status as a perfect safeguard against incompetence and/or dishonesty.
The one thing I learned from my years of performing on the road, even in the transition to the internet/cell phone era, is that anything and everything can and will go wrong. Even in my later years, when I had the parachute of competent and experienced management, shit happened. They don’t call it “unforseen” circumstances for nothing. You learn to just roll with it, keep your head up, and look forward to the next show.
October 27, 2018 @ 8:59 am
If filling the venue was part of the issue (which we may never find out), maybe it would have been better for them to have been booked at the Shreveport Municipal Auditorium. It is much smaller than last night’s arena, yet much larger than a venue such as The Silver Star. I can understand why everyone’s upset, but I also think it’s unfair to put down the entertainers when we don’t even know if the cancellation was something they had control over.
October 27, 2018 @ 9:39 am
So Trig, shouldn’t TT’s manager be held responsible for this because it is their job to ensure the right business deals are made. Including size of the venues you are playing? Knowing you are a mid size band and booked at a Coliseum as header, is that something the manager shouldn’t have signed knowing the guarantee was at risk?
October 27, 2018 @ 9:55 am
I don’t know what happened with this show and why it was canceled. I have multiple feelers out, and if and when I hear something and that information is confirmed, I will share it with everyone. I don’t want to throw management under the bus because I don’t know they were at fault here. I just see a lot of folks jumping to conclusions where there could have been multiple reasons this show was canceled. Turnpike is scheduled to play in Corpus Christi tonight. If they show up and play, that’s probably a good sign that Evan Felker is not incubated in a detox center like Facebook seems to believe. If they don’t, we’ll have a new set of questions. Either way, I feel like fans deserve an explanation of why this show was canceled considering it was done after the initial set time.
October 27, 2018 @ 11:01 am
They cancelled tonight
October 27, 2018 @ 11:25 am
Yes. Not a good sign at all.
October 27, 2018 @ 9:43 am
The Centurytel center has multiple setups for shows, from a full venue,half venue, even one that blocks off to about a quarter of the venue, so I am not sure exactly what setup they had for this show, but it is not out of the ordinary for much of the arena to be blacked out. It is hard for me to believe the crowd size had anything to due with the cancellation, at least I hope not. I don’t care if only 5 people showed up, a band has to get out there and play with everything they have got. What really bothers me is that it seemed like it was cancelled literally at the last minute, right before showtime, that seems like something is up. I would have thought that somebody, even if it was Stoney could have came out and did an acoustic set, just as a free show for the crowd. Let’s not forget when Erich Church had his entire crew sick, he came out played a 19 song acoustic set and still told the crowd to hold onto their tickets for a makeup show.
October 27, 2018 @ 9:48 am
While we have no idea what the cause of the cancellation is, I can say with certainty that drama seems to follow this band and especially its frontman more than most, if any, in the genre. And I’m saying that as a massive TT and Felker fan.
October 27, 2018 @ 10:54 am
Randy Rogers just announced on their FB page that TT will no longer be playing in Corpus Christi tonight. Something must be up…
October 27, 2018 @ 11:00 am
Turnpike cancelled in Corpus Christi tonight they werecoheadlining with the Randy Rogers band.
October 27, 2018 @ 11:09 am
Seems to me Evan Felker gets most of the blame when this Band screws up (.I’ve already been reading this was the cause of The Lead Singer) If Evan is the cause get another lead singer. I for one like Evan Felker, think he is a great songwriter and has a great voice. Could be he needs to move on…its obvious he doesn’t go for all these Tabloid Lies we’ve seen the last 5 or so months. Being the quite private person he seems to be.Evan could make a living with his writing, he is that good. Make a change Evan, make something happen you are a great person/ talent that we don’t want to lose.
October 28, 2018 @ 12:15 am
It was Evan who chose to leave his wife and enter into the realm of the very low class / tabloid love life of Miranda Lambert. Come on.
October 27, 2018 @ 11:24 am
I was there for my first show. I had no idea it would be my last show. I won’t be back and the lack of apology and explanation is not helping their cause. I spent a lot of money and 4 hours on the road to see them.
I won’t be back, even if they played across my street.
October 27, 2018 @ 1:44 pm
With TT cancelling tonight’s Corpus performance, it seems obvious the Bossier show was on them. But it would have been nice if Stoney had come out and done a set since everything seemed to be set up.
October 27, 2018 @ 5:36 pm
I remember seeing this date and thinking, “damn, that’s a big venue for them to be playing.” I saw George Strait there back in ‘04, and I think he played there several times before he retired from touring. I was wondering if Stoney and the Troubadours would actually be able to fill it like George did.
(I didn’t know they had shows where they’d block off half the venue or whatever.)
I drove 200 miles from Southeast Texas for that Strait show. I’d have been pissed if I did that for this.
October 27, 2018 @ 10:05 pm
It’s too big of a venue for TT and Stoney. I was leery when they booked it. Even if it’s blocked off, they wouldn’t sell enough tickets.