SZA threatened to ‘leave’ Australian concerts early after calling out fans ‘crazy’ antics in Melbourne

Georgina Noack
The Nightly
The pop queen threatened to leave during her Melbourne show.

Australian fans of Grammy-winning singer SZA almost forced her to end her Melbourne concert early, after she stopped the performance to call out the crowd’s “crazy” behaviour.

In dozens of videos that emerged from the Tuesday night concert at Rod Laver Arena, the second of three in Melbourne, some show fans throwing items — including shoes and phones — onto the stage and in the direction of the American artist.

The antics made the 34-year-old ‘Kill Bill’ singer, whose real name is Solána Imani Rowe, pause the show and warn fans: “If you throw something else, I will leave.”

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“Do not throw up any cell phones. I’m a person. That’s crazy,” she said as she held up an item that had been thrown in her direction.

After the footage began to circulate on social media, SZA’s loyal fanbase unleashed on the Melbourne crowd, accusing them of “ruining everything”.

Us singer SZA stopped her Melbourne concert at Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday night to call out fans' "crazy" behaviour.
US singer SZA threatened to end her Melbourne concert early after she had to stop the performance to call out the crowd’s “crazy” behaviour. Credit: TikTok

“Concert etiquette has gone out the window,” one fan wrote, adding that the crowd “should be ashamed of themselves”.

“Melbourne be ruining everything, behaving like their ugly muggy weather,” another fan wrote.

Others accused Melbournians of not knowing “how to act”, and questioned why some fans think to throw things at an artist they paid to see perform.

Another fan said SZA was “pissed” by the crowd’s antics and that she “definitely hates Melbourne now”.

“You had one f***ing job Melbourne, now she won’t want to come back to Australia,” someone else said.

Footage from the concertgoers shows the Melbourne crowds were particularly rowdy, showing off their dance moves in the aisles before SZA took to the stage.

However, there were other instances of bad behaviour at the Melbourne shows.

One disruptive fan was captured attempting a handstand in the raised seating area at Rod Laver Arena, but he lost balance and fell onto another fan.

Other footage shows multiple security guards attempting to stop a scuffle in the general admission area of the concert.

However, despite giving one of the crowds a dressing down on Tuesday night, SZA took to X after her third show to thank Melbourne concertgoers.

The tour is SZA’s first in Australia in nearly five years after she last performed here in July 2019.

She gained widespread recognition and multiple Grammy nominations for her debut album Ctrl, which was released in 2017.

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