During the last weekend of February, many Bishop Blanchet students went through a great hardship. A hardship hard to fathom. After much patience, anticipation and excitement, Friday night around 8 p.m. other BBHS students and I received the news from various sites, emails and phone calls from friends, that the Justin Bieber concert was heartbreakingly “postponed”. 

The concert was set to be February 26, 7:30 p.m. Many Blanchet students, including me, had been preparing for this great, historic night. Picking out our outfit choices, learning every word and beat to every one of his songs ever written, and even “more important” things like booking hotel rooms and buying the tickets. For weeks the preparation had been taking place, but on Friday night that preparation and planning was thrown out the window. 

However, we were not alone. A week prior, the concert in Las Vegas was also postponed, and even some Bishop Blanchet students were affected by that. Although the Las Vegas concert has been rescheduled for June 28, we have yet to be told when we will be able to see the one and only Justin Bieber. The Justice Tour is supposedly said to resume here in Seattle, but nothing is set in stone. Most information is the extraordinarily helpful line of, “we will let you know as soon as possible”.

Justin Bieber and his team canceled or “postponed” these concerts due to a Covid-19 outbreak among “the performing family”. His team released a statement and it read:

“Due to the continued recovery of the touring family, we are rescheduling the February 26 show in Tacoma, Washington. The rescheduled date for Tacoma will be announced as soon as possible…Justin and the Justice Tour family are committed to the health and safety of the entire touring party and crew, and to giving fans the best performance possible. Thanks for the continued support!”

I, along with many other Blanchet students were told this news while we were either laying out our outfits the night before, calling our friends, figuring out rides down to the Tacoma Dome, preparing our voices because we knew we’d be screaming for hours or in my case, listening to his music confirming I knew every word. 

“Two years ago I was supposed to go to his concert, but it got canceled because of Covid. I was so excited to finally see him, now this one has been canceled again, due to Covid. I am just hoping I don’t have to wait another two years” said junior Ellie Vizzare.

Now this was one of those moments where we remember what we were doing, where we were when we heard devastating news. Picture this; I’m in my room, excited, ecstatic, unable to fall asleep due to being filled with pure joy, a feeling that could not be tarnished. Yet, tarnished it was. In fact, “obliterated” would be a better word. My dad enters my room, slowly, quietly, I know something’s off. He looks me in my joyful eyes with his being filled with concern. He opens with “I’m sorry” and I immediately know. I know the tragedy that I have yet to hear out loud. He shows me the announcement and I crumble, both physically and emotionally. Crushed, I called my best friend and fellow BBHS student Shelby Bogen, who I was going with. She thought I was pranking her, that I was joking; but no joke or prank could ever be that cruel. Never would I joke that the Justin Bieber concert was canceled.

Now questions arise, “What do we do?”, “Where do we go from here?”, “How do we recover?” Well, the real question is “Can we?” We have yet to learn when he will reschedule, if he ever will. So right now we are in the terrifying unknown. For now, we will be listening to ‘Sorry’ on repeat, hoping he is truly sorry himself.