Katy Perry had to pull out of her scheduled performance at Belgium’s Werchter Boutique music festival on Saturday, with the cancellation coming only hours before she was due on stage.
The 41-year-old pop star, who recently released a much-discussed new music video that appeared to take aim at ex Orlando Bloom, addressed fans on Instagram and said the decision had been taken out of her hands.
Perry was expected to headline the final slot of the festival after Pitbull’s performance, but severe weather concerns ultimately forced organizers to halt the show.
“Sadly my set @WerchterBoutique tonight can’t happen due to a government mandated cancellation because of the incoming inclement weather and crowd safety concerns,” she wrote in her caption.
The Dark Horse singer explained that she had already been backstage preparing to perform “when this news was delivered,” adding that officials “gave me no choice.”
“I am just as unhappy as you are,” Perry told disappointed fans, while stressing that the matter was “beyond my control” and that audience safety had to come first.
Katy Perry, 41, was forced to cancel her Werchter Boutique festival appearance in Belgium on Saturday just hours before showtime; pictured earlier this month in L.A.
Perry had been scheduled to close the festival following Pitbull’s set, but unsafe weather conditions prevented the performance from going ahead
‘I am sorry I can’t change the weather, and even sorrier that all of us can’t be together tonight.’
Perry concluded her message to fans by expressing her disappointment that she cannot celebrate her return to the festival stage after her last appearance back in 2009.
‘I was even gonna wear the same outfit from that 2009 show again. I love you all, and please get home safe,’ the singer wrote along with a sad face emoji.
The music artist additionally uploaded a photo of herself sitting outside while donning a pair of striped sweatpants and a white robe.
She could be seen puffing on a cigarette as the outfit she seemingly had planned to wear that evening was placed next to her.
Perry additionally included the official announcement which showed that the festival would end early at 9pm. Perry’s set had been scheduled to kick off an hour later.
The last-minute cancellation of Perry’s show was due to ‘severe thunderstorms’ that were predicted to hit the area.
The decision was to ‘ensure that the exit of visitors proceeds in a safe and orderly manner, allowing everyone to return home calmly. The safety and health of everyone present is always our top priority.’
The music artist additionally uploaded a photo of herself sitting outside while donning a pair of striped sweatpants and a white robe
Perry additionally included the official announcement which showed that the festival would end early at 9pm. Perry’s set had been scheduled to kick off an hour later
Perry is scheduled to perform at a number of other festivals throughout the summer season; seen in 2025 in Spain
Perry is scheduled to perform at a number of other festivals throughout the summer season.
She will take to the stage at Depot Live in the U.K. on June 30 which is set to be held at Cardiff Castle.
The mom-of-one has been keeping busy and dropped the music video to her new track Watch It Burn on Thursday.
The star appeared to sing about her breakup with Orlando Bloom which occurred last year following nine years of dating. The former couple also share daughter Daisy, five.
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Some lyrics included: ‘Tonight’s the night, I light a match/ Throw it hard behind my back/Gonna try to forgive and forget/ Light a cigarette, and watch it burn.’
In one scene, magazines at a stand caught on fire, with one cover looking eerily similar to a Details magazine interview Bloom previously did.
The model’s name on the cover was Jensen Turner, which some fans believed was a possible reference to Bloom’s character Will Turner in the Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise.
The horror-themed video showed Perry turning into a scorpion/human hybrid and had a tail which destroyed everything in its path.
The mom-of-one has been keeping busy and dropped the music video to her new track Watch It Burn on Thursday
Fans shared their thoughts about the song and music video on social media, with one penning, ‘SHES SO BACK, ABSOLUTE CINEMA.’
Another wrote, ‘Katy Perry should stick to her signature sound. This song is so her! This is her DNA! Hope the upcoming album is simply like THAT!’
‘She is literally back this reminds me of old katy,’ one typed, and another said, ‘This is so 2008 and I’m here for it.’
During a recent appearance on the Unfamous podcast, Perry explained that when it comes to the track, she is ‘wrestling with my darkness, but last year was pretty tough.’
The songstress added, ‘I have not given myself permission to be angry my whole life over things where I should be f***ing angry about.
‘What I’ve done is I pushed it down, but I should be f***ing angry. I’m allowed to be angry for a f***ing moment.’
Perry later shared during the interview that she has ‘love in my life now. That’s transformed me,’ referring to her relationship with former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau.
The pair were first romantically linked back in July of last year when they were seen grabbing dinner in Montreal during the Canadian leg of her Lifetimes Tour.
During a recent appearance on the Unfamous podcast , Perry explained that when it comes to the track, she is ‘wrestling with my darkness, but last year was pretty tough’; seen in 2025 in Abu Dhabi
The songstress added, ‘I have not given myself permission to be angry my whole life over things where I should be f***ing angry about’; Perry and Bloom seen in 2025
Later that month, Trudeau was spotted in the crowd at one of her Lifetimes Tour concerts.
In October 2025, the couple went public with their romance as they held hands during a night out in Paris to celebrate Perry’s 41st birthday.
And late last year in December, the couple went Instagram official as the songstress shared a post featuring her beau from their trip to Tokyo.
The couple made their red carpet debut at the 25th Annual Tribeca Festival in NYC earlier this month.
Perry had been supported by Trudeau at the screening of Katy Perry The Lifetimes Tour – Live From Paris during the festivities.
The songstress notably confessed that Trudeau was the ‘love of my life’ during a Q+A session following the screening; seen earlier this month in NYC
The songstress notably confessed that Trudeau was the ‘love of my life’ during a Q+A session following the screening.
‘I would say now at the end of 91 shows, I feel like a more grounded person in so many aspects of my life. I am very in love.’
She added, ‘Actually, that show was after I met the love of my life, and so I felt very anchored by that, because I’m a little bit like a rainbow kite.
‘I fly super high and like touch the veiled cosmos, and sometimes I need to be anchored, so to have that anchor finally makes me feel really whole now.’
