{"id":6757,"date":"2026-06-25T09:34:33","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T09:34:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/lionel-richie-77-falls-ill-onstage-in-minnesota-abruptly-ends-opening-night-concert\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T09:34:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T09:34:33","slug":"lionel-richie-77-falls-ill-onstage-in-minnesota-abruptly-ends-opening-night-concert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/lionel-richie-77-falls-ill-onstage-in-minnesota-abruptly-ends-opening-night-concert\/","title":{"rendered":"Lionel Richie, 77, falls ill onstage in Minnesota, abruptly ends opening night concert"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F3%2F2026%2F06%2F132178589.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Lionel Richie\u2019s opening night of his 26 city North American tour came to an abrupt end after the singer fell ill on stage.<\/p>\n<p>The 77-year-old music legend had been performing for about an hour at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul, Minnesota, Thursday when he appeared to struggle during \u201cDancing on the Ceiling\u201d while kicking off his <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/01\/26\/ticket-sales\/earth-wind-and-fire-lionel-richie-tour-2026-where-to-buy-tickets\/\"> tour with Earth, Wind &amp; Fire<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Richie sat down several times during the song, videos <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/PatKessler\/status\/2069993743638311348\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">shared on social media<\/a> showed.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Lionel Richie fell ill onstage in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Thursday night, struggling during \u201cDancing on the Ceiling.\u201d <span class=\"credit\">@PatKessler\/X<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cWhen you\u2019re feeling dizzy, sit your ass down,\u201d Richie told the crowd, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/app.startribune.com\/story\/601859500\/content.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Minnesota Star Tribune<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>He then sat at the piano to perform \u201cThree Times a Lady\u201d before calling for an intermission. His band remained onstage for about 15 minutes before leaving.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Roughly 40 minutes later, saxophonist Dino Soldo addressed the audience.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnfortunately, Lionel is not feeling well,\u201d Soldo said. \u201cHe won\u2019t be able to continue. Additional information will be available.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Before taking the stage Thursday, Richie shared his excitement about kicking off the tour.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>\u201cWhen you\u2019re feeling dizzy, sit your ass down,\u201d the 77-year-old told the crowd as he sat on the stage. <span class=\"credit\">@PatKessler\/X<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cOpening night. Rehearsals. Sound check. Showtime tonight. Saint Paul, you\u2019re up!!!\u201d he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DZ_MgEVldOt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote on Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this week, the \u201cAll Night Long\u201d singer also thanked the crew and musicians helping bring the tour to life.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThank you to everyone in my band and crew for all the hard work, dedication, and long hours getting us ready for this tour,\u201d he wrote on Instagram Stories.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Richie posted before the show, \u201cOpening night. Rehearsals. Sound check. Showtime tonight. Saint Paul, you\u2019re up!!!\u201d <span class=\"credit\">Lionel Richie \/ Instagram<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cIt takes an incredible team behind the scenes to make it all happen, and I\u2019m grateful for each and every one of you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thursday\u2019s show marked the opening night of Richie and Earth, Wind &amp; Fire\u2019s newly launched North American tour.<\/p>\n<p>The 26-date run is set to continue Friday night at Chicago\u2019s United Center, though it\u2019s unclear whether Richie will be well enough to take the stage after cutting Thursday\u2019s show short.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The music legend headlines the opening concert at Acrisure Amphitheater in Grand Rapids, Michigan,\u00a0May 15, 2026. <span class=\"credit\">Getty Images for Acrisure Amphitheater<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Despite Thursday\u2019s setback, the Grammy winner has long maintained that retirement is not on his radar.<\/p>\n<p>Richie has <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2023\/04\/14\/katy-perry-lionel-richie-to-perform-at-king-charles-coronation\/\">continued performing in recent years<\/a> and previously said he has no plans to step away from the stage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re gonna have to carry me out, babe,\u201d he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-features\/lionel-richie-last-word-interview-1003455\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told Rolling Stone<\/a> in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSomeone asked me years ago, \u2018When do you plan on retiring?\u2019 And I said, \u2018From what?\u2019 I\u2019ve never had a job. People who work want to retire.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the time, Richie said he still felt like a 19-year-old and was enjoying the \u201cfun and adventure\u201d that comes with life on the road.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/06\/25\/entertainment\/lionel-richie-77-falls-ill-onstage-in-minnesota-abruptly-ends-opening-night-concert\/\" target=\"_blank\">Source link<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lionel Richie\u2019s opening night of his 26 city North American tour came to an abrupt<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/132178589.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}