Lady Gaga’s injured hip, which forced her this week to cancel the remaining 21 dates on her massive, two-year, six-continent Born This Way tour, will have a major economic impact on the concert business.
Promoters estimate the canceled dates could cost Gaga and the industry more than $35 million in lost revenue. Gaga earned $161 million in revenue last year on the tour, the fifth most successful of 2012. Among the shows canceled are major markets such as Chicago (she was scheduled to play two concerts this week at the United Center), Detroit, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Atlanta and Miami.
Tickets are being refunded at point of purchase for all the remaining shows because the singer will need several months of “strict downtime” to recover from surgery, promoter Live Nation said.
The singer took to her Twitter account and Web site to explain that she had no choice but to cancel the tour. She said Tuesday that after a concert the previous night in Montreal she “could not walk” and had been in “chronic pain” for a number of weeks.
The injury was initially diagnosed as synovitis, or severe inflammation of the joints, but doctors later discovered a labral tear in her right hip, an injury to the soft elastic tissue (or labrum) that follows the outside rim of the hip socket.
The injury can be extremely painful and is common among athletes and dancers. Recovery time usually ranges from two to six months. Sprinter Tyson Gay competed in the Summer Olympics in 2012 a year after labral surgery. Gaga’s performances involve extensive dance routines, most performed in high heels, that can put severe stress on the knees and hips.
Unclear is how the surgery will affect Gaga’s ongoing writing and production of a forthcoming studio album, “ARTPOP.”
