OneRepublic Cancels Concert After Being Stuck in Chicago Snowstorm
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During a weekend of winter snowstorms, more than 1400 flights at both O’Hare and Midway Airports have been canceled. NBC5’s Regina Waldroup and Emily Florez report.
With more than 1200 flights canceled at O'Hare and Midway on Sunday, the snowstorm made getting in and out of Chicago difficult, to say the least.
Among the frustrated travelers? The members of pop rock band OneRepublic.
The group was forced to cancel their concert scheduled for Sunday evening in Las Vegas, Nevada, delivering the bad news via Twitter around 1:45 p.m.
"To all our fans in Vegas- we are stuck in Chicago from the snow storm, we are so so sorry," the band tweeted. "Winter weather is wrecked our plans. This sucks." [[405862145, C]]
They followed that post with another about an hour later, letting fans know that the opening acts for the "Not So Silent Night" concert would continue to perform as scheduled. [[405922735, C]]
"But for the listeners, the fans and partners, the show will go on. The Fray, Lindsey Stirling and We The Kinds will still perform and the concert will now be free, and open to all who would like to come out for a great night of music," the band tweeted, adding that refunds would be issued to all who bought tickets.
OneRepublic was in Chicago to perform at Saturday night's "B96 Pepsi Jingle Bash" at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, alongside Britney Spears, Shawn Mendes, Fifth Harmony and more.
Several inches of snow fell across the Chicago area beginning Saturday evening, as most counties remained under a Winter Storm Warning through late Sunday night.
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February 1-2, 2015: The fifth-largest blizzard in Chicago's history was also the most recent to hit the top of the charts, when 19.3 inches of snowfall were recorded between late Saturday night and 6 a.m. Monday morning. Many Chicagoans may remember it as the "Super Bowl" blizzard, when 16.2 inches of snow alone fell on the Sunday of Super Bowl XLIX, causing a myriad of problems and forcing Chicago Public Schools to close on Monday.
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Jan. 13-14, 1979: The fourth-biggest snowstorm in Chicago's history occurred in January 1979, when 20.3 inches of snow fell at O'Hare International Airport, where the city's weather is officially recorded. The storm was followed by a brutal arctic blast and took the longest time to melt, according to the National Weather Service, and snow already on the ground from previous storms resulted in the deepest snow pack in city history.
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Feb. 1-2, 2011: The third-largest blizzard in the city was known as the "Groundhog Day Blizzard" and even "Snowpocalypse" which brought 21.2 inches of snow along with fierce winds gusting up to 60 mph throughout Chicago and northwest Indiana. The blizzard crippled the city for days, as more than a thousand flights were canceled and drivers left stranded vehicles along Lake Shore Drive.
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Jan 1-3, 1999: 21.6 inches of snow blanketed Chicago during the second-largest snowstorm in city history in 1999. The storm was well forecast and spread out over a long holiday weekend, according to the National Weather Service, which helped mitigate the impact on transportation. However, the storm still had a major impact as Lake Shore Drive was shut down for the first time ever.
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Jan. 26-27, 1967: Chicago's worst blizzard of all-time has held the record for nearly 50 years, when 23 inches of snow fell over the course of two days. The storm paralyzed the city, shutting down airports and schools for days. Estimates of as many as 50,000 cars and up to 1000 buses were stuck or abandoned, according to the National Weather Service, and about 60 people died as a result of the storm, 26 from heart attacks while shoveling.
