The Meeting

For Leah

I travelled back after Leah's wellness meeting at the club. They told her, as we thought, that they had benched her simply for her own benefit. They worried that with the stress and pressure caused by the comments Leah would have underperformed and they didn't want her football to be viewed as anything other than it was, extraordinary. Despite knowing that she would've been fine, Leah accept their decision and thanked them for helping her through.

Lydia and Gavin were pleased to have me back but they were concerned about Leah, they cared for her a lot but I assured them she was okay and knew that if she needed me home I would be there as soon as I could get a flight. The first thing we had to deal with was the backlash I had received on social media. Despite most fans being understanding and supportive of my decision, there were a few that weren't. Most of these were parents of children who now said they couldn't afford travel to the next date. We knew that this was likely untrue in a lot of instances but I have never been one to shy away from fan complaints and I wasn't about to start. Lydia pulled together the comments that had been negative and we sat down to go through them so we could ensure my next statement covered everything that had been thrown at me and showed them that I had listened to their anger and upset.

Alex cancelling her show because Leah got benched is like me cancelling my exams because my brother's bus was delayed

Thought a lot more of Alex RW than her thinking it's okay to cancel a show with short notice just because of Leah.

I know everyone's saying oh how do you know she cancelled because of Leah but come on guys. Leah gets benched and suddenly Alex has 'personal issues'??

Wow Alex RW has fucked up. 'Free entry' to next show for ticket holders that can't afford to travel to the next show

I have one very upset little girl. Waited months to see Alex and now can't afford to pay for another plane ticket to see her.

They were the types of things I expected. They were right, I had cancelled for Leah and I did it at short notice but I would do it again tonight if she needed me. Lydia wanted to write that it wasn't Leah but I didn't like telling lies and I had already spoken to Leah and she was onboard with me telling them the truth, kinda. I released a statement that evening.

AlexRWilliamson:

Apologies for the delay in communication to the fans that had to be disappointed last week. First and foremost I would like to express that I know how disappointing a night like that can be and had I been able to avoid it I would have in a heartbeat.

Sometimes in life, as performers, we are expected to be inhuman. I, like everyone else, have a life outside of my shows and sometimes the two don't align as we would like. Last week, I was needed at home for family reasons and it was completely unavoidable. We are ready, if you are, to release another date that will see us perform an extended set list, one that you will be allowed to choose. How will this work, you might be thinking?

We have hired a temporary team that you can email with songs you would like to hear and your reason for it. We will play our normal set and take a short interval to allow us to reset. After this, we will come back on for a further hour and a half to play a list of your chosen tracks that didn't appear on the set list.

I have read through all of your complaints individually and I understand that a lot of you had purchased travel to and from the concert and now are unable to do this again so soon. I will, personally, be paying for the travel of anyone that cannot attend for monetary reasons. My team will discuss this with you in a more detailed manner upon contact.

If you cannot attend this show because of other commitments, please email us with your ticket number and as long as your tickets are not scanned on the night, we will make arrangements for you to attend another date if we can.