You might say Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera brought the house down on Saturday--a move that's turned out to be anything but good news for fans of the winsome twosome.
A major accident with the stage equipment at their venue in Atlantic City has temporarily postponed the Justified & Stripped tour with no word on when Timberlake and Aguilera will resume their double bill. The popsters were scheduled to play eight more dates between Monday and August 24.
The show's lighting, sound, video and staging equipment sustained more than $1 million in damage when a large aluminum lighting grid came crashing down around 12:45 p.m. on Saturday at the 75-year-old Boardwalk Hall.
Investigators have yet to determine why the ceiling grid collapsed.
Three roadies suffered minor injuries, a relatively low casualty count considering close to 30 people had been working below the grid when it gave way.
Luckily, the pop duo weren't in the building when the incident occurred. Their sold-out Sunday show was quickly postponed.
Then on Monday, Timberlake's publicist released the following statement:
"It's undetermined at this time when the tour will resume. All attempts are being made to finish the tour and revisit postponed dates."
But it's not all bad news. Ticket-holders are being encouraged to hold on to their tickets, "as they will be honored in the future," according to the statement.
Timberlake and Aguilera, who had already played in more than 30 cities across the country, were due to rock some bodies Monday night at the Pepsi Arena in Albany, New York. That show has been postponed.
This is the second time the grid has given way at the Atlantic City hall. It last came down in September 2000 before the Miss America Pageant, but there were no injuries and the incident did not delay the event. The cause at that time sounds like a no-brainer--officials said the 100-by-100-foot grid collapsed because it was not attached to the ceiling.
Superstitious types could chalk it up to Timberlake's recent bad stage karma. At an appearance in Toronto alongside the Rolling Stones last month, the 'N Syncer was booed off the stage and pelted with water bottles by a rock-hungry crowd who didn't appreciate Timberlake's pop-driven set.Last November, while warming up for some promo concerts, Timberlake took a tumble during a dance sequence and broke his toe, forcing him to nix several shows. Then in March, while en route to Japan for a show, Timberlake's plane had to make an emergency landing after getting pelted by a wayward bird.