Ubiquitous radio star Rihanna performed a slew of her hits including "Umbrella," "We Found Love" and "Don't Stop the Music."
Rihanna‘s seven-day, seven-country, seven-concert 777 tour will likely go down in history as one of the worst-ever catastrophes to strike music journalists.
As the days blurred into one, the group of 200-plus journos invited on the “We Found Love” singer’s Boeing 777 began venting frustrations on Twitter and posting dispatches to the outside world that painted the experience as pretty bleak. Among the complaints: lack of sleep; red-eye flights; not-great food; and worst of all, the silent treatment from Rihanna herself. After pouring champagne for the press on Day One of the tour while en route to Mexico City from LA, she’d apparently gone into hiding on what was supposed to be a triple-VIP party plane.
A quasi-rebellion ensued on the fifth day, with mid-flight footage showing the frustrated media pack chanting “Just one quote!” and “RiRi!” in unison as an Australian streaked down the aisles.
STORY: THR’s Top 25 Hollywood Beauty Moments of 2012: Katy Perry, Kristen Stewart and Rihanna
Rihanna’s 777 journey, in support of her forthcoming album fittingly titled Unapologetic, ends Wednesday in New York. With 30 minutes ’till landing on Tuesday, she surfaced to apologize for her disappearing act.
“A few journalists joked about staging a media blackout, imagining a scenario where Rihanna comes out and is shunned in favor of sleep. This did not happen,” recalls Fuse TV’s Jason Newman. “After answering probing questions like, ‘Will you be playing Ireland next year?,’ the singer explained her absence on the tour and apologized to journalists. ‘I know you guys got barely any dirt,’ said Rihanna. ‘But I had to be good. I still sound like sh-t. It’s impossible to spend time with everybody, and I’m sorry I didn’t. Usually I will be partying back here [in coach], balls to the wall. But I had to pay attention and take care of my health since I was on the plane all the time.'”
Spin‘s Julianne Escobedo Shepherd, who also documented the “cray” experience, tweeted afterward: “Came home, coughed, puked bile in the sink, nobody in my apt cares that i’m alive, going to die now, put rihanna’s face on my epitaph.”
Twitter: @ErinLCarlson
Email: erin.carlson@thr.com
Related Stories
More from The Hollywood Reporter
-
![]()
-
![]()
-
Taylor Swift
iHeartRadio Music Awards: Taylor Swift Honored With Innovator Award, Harry Styles Among Top Winners
![]()
-
thr news
Jonathan Majors Arrested and Charged With Assault, Lawyer Says Actor Is “Completely Innocent”
![]()
-
thr news
Jeremy Renner Shares Video Walking on Anti-Gravity Treadmill After Snowplow Accident: “Time for My Body to Rest and Recover”
![]()
-
![]()
