Not Again, Nelly! Music Fans in Bay City, MI Shorted Due To Scheduling Snafu

Ok, I'm starting to take this personally. What does rapper Nelly have against Michigan?!

As someone who was caught up in the No-Show-Nelly "Dilemma" during last year's Allegan County Fair, I feel for fans over in Bay City, Michigan.

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Allegan County Fair Incident

Rapper Nelly, of "Dilemma" and "Hot in Herre" fame, was scheduled to headline an evening of entertainment at the 2023 Allegan County Fair.

Fans (like myself) waited in slow moving lines to enter the grandstand only to then again wait in never-ending beer lines. As the sun went down and fans continued to drink the crowd became more and more impatient waiting for the rapper to finally appear.

Fair organizers didn't announce the disappointing news until the last minute: due to poor weather conditions on the tarmac in New York, Nelly's flight was delayed and he was a no-show.

Fans who were in attendance were confused, angry, and eager to get a refund. There were also a bunch of rumors and speculation thanks to internet cyber sleuths. Did Nelly even intend to make it to Allegan that night at all?

In the end, Nelly apologized and made it up to fans with a rescheduled performance to close out the 2023 fair-- and that's the short version!

What About Bay City?

Recently, it was announced that Nelly would tour with Janet Jackson as her featured opening act in arenas and amphitheaters across the country this summer. Guess what that means?

Once again Nelly is double-booked!

And it's not just Michigan this time. Ken Shelton, promoter and owner of the Bay City Music Festival, told Bay City's WNEM, 

We definitely had a confirmation for Nelly to be in Bay City at the music festival for Friday, June 21...Nelly and his management team made the decision to double-book himself in 17 cities -- Bay City is one of them -- on the same date with Janet Jackson.

So it sounds like putting promoters like the Allegan County Fair in a bind is pretty on-par for Nelly. Fool us once, shame on Nelly! But twice? Lesson learned.  Here's what fans of the Bay City Music Festival had to say:

• "He double booked allegan fair and another event last year too!! Seems like it's an ongoing problem with him." - Kayla Morril

• Total Bs !! How do you be so irresponsible and double book 17 shows" - Chad Skotynsky

• "didn’t he do the same thing in Allegan" Stephanie Nicole