Country band Lady A was supposed to kick off their 2021 outdoor venues tour at a sold-out performance at the Prior Lake Rotary’s Lakefront Music Fest on Saturday, but the trio was forced to cancel when vocalist and guitarist Charles Kelley came down with appendicitis. The band wrote in a Facebook post that Kelly was “in good hands and we’re continuing to pray for his recovery.” The festival went on without their headliners thanks to extended sets from Jake Owen and opener Noah Guthrie.
Lady A will return to the festival in 2023 and Bruce Evans, a spokesman for the festival, told The Star Tribune that ticketholders with questions about the cancellation can email info@lakefrontmusicfest.com for more information. People who purchased tickets for 2021 will be informed when tickets for 2023 go on sale, but the purchase for this year will not automatically roll over into 2023. The Grammy winners shared their disappointment on Facebook, saying “after such a long wait, there isn’t much that could keep us from being without fans.” The band hasn’t toured since 2018.
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Still, Lady A’s What A Song Can Do is set to continue on July 29 in Uncasville, Connecticut and wrap on Oct. 10 in Gilford, New Hampshire. Lady A will be joined by opening acts Carly Pearce, Niko Moon and Tenille Arts. “This tour is really going to be about letting our fans know how much they mean to us and what music has done for all of us over the last year…which is the essence of the tour name. We started writing a song called ‘What A Song Can Do’ and it turned into a love-letter to our fans,” Kelley shared in a statement. “We are gonna soak up these moments on stage more than we ever have before.”
“It’s gonna be hard to wipe the smiles off our faces and I’m sure the tears off [bandmate] Hillary [Scott]’s,” he added. “We were lucky enough to still release new music this past year but there are songs like ‘Champagne Night’ and ‘What If I Never Get Over You’ that we haven’t been able to play live much so we know those will make for some really special moments.”