“Flew all the way from Mizoram to Bangalore only to be told the show is cancelled. I’m feeling sad, angry, hurt all at once (sic),” VL Muanpuli wrote on X (formerly Twitter), adding, “I had the ticket for the 28th, so unfortunately, I couldn’t even see him.”
Muanpuli is among the many people whose hopes to watch comedian Trevor Noah during his ‘Off the Record’ tour in India were dashed after the Bengaluru shows (scheduled for 27 and 28 September) were cancelled.
Some attendees took to X to speak about the bad acoustics at the event and the efforts it took to reach the venue owing to the massive traffic congestion on the Outer Ring Road (ORR) in the city. The event was hosted at the Manpho Convention Centre in Nagavara.
The Quint spoke to some of the attendees at the event who recalled their experience.
‘This Was a Dream for People, They Braved Hours of Traffic’
Balagopal KV recalls, “My partner is a huge fan of Trevor Noah, and I'm a fan too, so when they announced the event, I got the tickets within the first 1 hour because I knew it would be sold out quickly. It was absolutely stunning that they blatantly tried to increase the margins as much as possible even at the cost of the event experience.”
“And when push came to shove, they put everyone in a boiling auditorium with no information, air circulation or AC for 30 minutes just so that they can try to get the event back on in that shi**y environment. There was no message from the organisers at all, until several hours later. Imagine the main star being the one telling everyone that the event is cancelled and that the tickets will be refunded.”Balagopal KV to The Quint
“Also, the only thing they could offer is a refund? This show was a dream for a large number of people, and they braved hours of traffic to get there; it's not like this is a performer we'll get to see often. To see this experience being treated the way it was, was heartbreaking,” he adds.
He further asks, “If they could treat a personality of the stature of Trevor Noah like this, which you would think would be the most important event they've produced, if not one of the most, then with what confidence can you go for any event organised by the company?”
‘We Could Hear the Opening Act but Couldn’t Understand Him’
Surbhi Jain says, “I’ve read Noah’s book ‘Born a Crime’ and I used to watch his show as well (‘The Daily Show’) and I found it hilarious. That’s why I decided to go to the show. Me and five of my friends booked tickets for the show pretty early on and our seats were in the first 20 rows. We had to leave early because Bengaluru traffic can be bad. We reached the venue and waited for almost one and a half hour for the show to start.”
Attendees recalled that the show was delayed multiple times.
“They were announcing constantly that it would start in 5 minutes, and at around 7.30 PM, it was postponed for half an hour. I thought that was because a lot of people were stuck in traffic – a lot of people were also selling their tickets from the traffic. The opening act started; we could hear him but we couldn’t understand him well, I don’t know what the issue was,” she adds.
The standup comic Wilner Sylvince was the opening act for Trevor Noah, and several attendees recall not being able to hear him properly.
Meghana Srinivas says her friend ‘got the tickets as a surprise’ for her.
“The opening act came and we couldn’t hear anything he was saying. I felt bad for him; I think it barely went on for 10 minutes. I think people started yelling, 'We can’t hear, we can’t hear' and giving a thumbs down. So I think he felt we were booing him. There was the main stage up front and there were two TVs on either side. This was towards the first half of the warehouse so at the second half, we couldn’t see anything; even the TVs weren’t visible to us,” she adds.
She further says, “Even he realised something was wrong and by then people started chanting 'We can’t hear'. After that, Trevor came and realised what the problem was. It was especially frustrating because people had been through such bad traffic to get there.”
“Trevor did two sound checks but when he realised people couldn’t hear him he said, ‘I’m sorry. I’ve never faced this before. I’ll make sure people get a refund’. Some of us started laughing because we thought he was joking; some people were desperate and started chanting, ‘We can hear’. By that point, he was probably really frustrated and he didn’t come back. In about half an hour, he put that tweet out and we all went home.”Meghana Srinivas to The Quint
Speaking of their journey to the event, Srinivas recalls, “We went early because the tickets said they’d start by 7.30 PM and they’d close the doors. It coincided with the ORR jam so it took me about three hours to reach; the traffic was terrible.”
‘There Were a Lot of Issues Even Before We Got to Our Seats’
“We had to park a long way away. I was wearing heels so it was even more difficult to walk because you had to walk through a very mucky area. Given the price of the tickets, we were expecting multilevel parking or elevators,” Srinivas adds.
“It was a QR code ticket and there was no mobile network. The bathrooms were disgusting and most of them didn’t even have lockable doors; they were dirty. We looked at all the refreshments – the sandwiches were also cold and unappetising. Even during the payment, we couldn’t use UPI. There were a lot of glitches even before we got to our seats."Meghana Srinivas to The Quint
"The seating was completely flat; it was like a warehouse. It was poorly ventilated and all the chairs were very close to each other. A lot of people had already reached the venue and then there were endless delays. They didn’t make an announcement about the cancellation until after Trevor’s tweet. There was just weird communication; first, I think they were hinting Trevor himself was late and asked us to go enjoy the refreshments outside," she further says.
Srinivas recalls seeing two pregnant women at the event leaving the venue with their families while the attendees were waiting. “When we were leaving, there was a huge nightmare of getting out of the parking lot and walking through all the slush again. I think I also saw two pregnant women who were sitting somewhere in the front leave with their family while we were waiting, and I’m so glad they did because it was really claustrophobic there.”
“People handling the event didn’t even do anything to alleviate the situation. If they had just switched on the AC, checked in on people or given some water, people would not have been so angry.”Meghana Srinivas to The Quint
‘We Have Been Forced To Cancel Both Shows’: Trevor Noah
While attendees waited for information, Trevor Noah took to X to post a statement, “Dear Bengaluru, I was so looking forward to performing in your amazing city, but due to technical issues, we have been forced to cancel both shows. We tried everything, but because the audience cannot hear the comedians on stage, there is literally no way to do a show.”
Trevor Noah's statement.
(Photo Courtesy: X)
“We will make sure all ticket holders receive a full refund, and again, I am so sorry for both the inconvenience and disappointment. This has never happened to us before,” the comedian continued.
Bookmyshow, expressing regret, posted, “Bengaluru, we are extremely sorry for the inconvenience caused at Trevor Noah’s Off The Record show at Manpho Convention Centre on September 27th. The Bengaluru leg of the India Tour for both September 27th & 28th stands cancelled. All customers who purchased tickets for both shows will get a complete refund within 8-10 working days. We deeply regret this experience that our valuable customers faced and hope to be able to bring Trevor back to this amazing city at the earliest.”
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)