Janet Jackson has canceled a series of European concerts on her Unbreakable tour due to poor ticket sales, with an industry source telling us, “She was about to flop, badly.”
Ticketmaster sent out emails earlier this week offering refunds for Jackson’s European dates three weeks before she was set to perform in London. “It is not possible to confirm new date at the present time so we are refunding all ticket holders,” the email said.
Jackson’s camp didn’t give an explanation for the cancellation, but an industry insider told us she hadn’t sold enough tickets.
“She was about to flop, badly. When an artist cancels an entire leg or postpones pieces of the tour, the real reason is because they’re not selling,” the source said, adding, “It’s better to cancel than play a room that’s half-filled, especially if you’re Janet Jackson.”
But a source at Janet’s tour producers Live Nation insisted to Page Six that sales in Europe were “decent.” “We were a month out and still very positive about the shows, but it didn’t make any sense to keep all the dates. She’s very ambitious right now. And when you’re that ambitious, there becomes conflict.”
The Live Nation source continued, “She has other businesses — some music, some brand-related. Janet has a complicated life. Her schedule was getting crazy, so we decided to pull this thing down . . . It may be moved to a later date.”
On Thursday, Jackson tweeted, “I’ll be rescheduling our Unbreakable shows in Europe as soon as I can.”
Jackson was forced to postpone several US dates after a mystery surgery in December. The postponements have some speculating whether she will complete her US dates, but the source tells us Jackson is committed to doing so and may even add more dates. Jackson’s longtime producer Jimmy Jam told us she was adding more songs from her album to the set list.
The singer’s next performance will be at the Dubai World Cup on March 26. She is expected to return to the States to resume the tour in May through September.