Country music legend Dwight Yoakam took to social media this week to explain why he was late to his recent show in Lubbock, Texas and … well, it certainly sounds like he is lucky to be alive.
“I want to personally apologize to the fans who bought tickets and attended our show in Lubbock TX this past Thursday evening the 12th of February,” Yoakam wrote on Facebook. “It has only today been brought to my attention that unfortunately the circumstances surrounding my delayed arrival to perform the concert that night were not conveyed clearly by an in-person announcement from the stage but rather by a vague anonymous PA announcement about a flight delay.
“What actually happened Thursday afternoon was that we had an emergency takeoff abort as the aircraft was about to lift off from the runway due to a mechanical failure warning in the cockpit,” he continued. “Fortunately the pilots handled the aborted takeoff with exceptional professional skill and they were able to avoid anything more dangerous of catastrophic occurring. Aft4er taxiing back to the hangar and concluding that the issue with that aircraft could not be corrected we were luckily able to be moved to a different plane and continue our flight to do the show in Lubbock.”
Yoakam wrote that he was “approximately and hour and thirty minutes” later for his scheduled 9 p.m. stage time.
“Again, I want to express my sincere apologies to all the fans in attendance that evening that the announcement about the show’s delay was not made from ‘onstage’ respectfully,” he added. “I am very sorry for any frustration and disappointment the delay caused. Dwight.”
Fans seemed to be just fine with the explanation and appreciate to that the singer made it through.
“Thank for not dying,” Stephen J Vento replied on Facebook.
And there were plenty more comments like that.