Fans of iconic ’90s band Aqua are left disappointed after their shocking final performance on their Australian tour.
The Barbie Girl hitmakers took to the stage at their final Australian show at Margaret Court Arena on Wednesday night.
But the Danish-Norwegian pop group left fans less than impressed when they opened with their song Cartoon Heroes.
In a video shared to TikTok, singer Lene Nystrom sounded shaky and nervous as she tried to finish the first verse.
“This is painful,” user @xoxomissflo captioned the clip, noting that the intro “looked promising.”
“The opening really showed what was in store for us tonight… it wasn’t the atmosphere,” they wrote in their caption.
Several fans joined in the comments, sharing their thoughts and experiences seeing the band live several years ago and more recently.
Cartoon Heroes wasn’t the best, but they got better as the evening went on. That, or I got even drunker. I really enjoyed it,” one user wrote.
“Jesus Christ this sounds like drunk karaoke,” another added.
“What a shame,” someone commented, while someone said: “The crowd is mellowing out.”
Fans of iconic ’90s band Aqua are left disappointed after their shocking final performance on their Australian tour
Several fans responded and shared their disappointing experiences seeing the band live
Another said: ‘They look so bored in every video I’ve seen.’
Meanwhile, others fully supported the artists who have been performing for 30 years.
‘Personally, I think they’re great. I was at the show and I had a great time!’ Someone said.
It comes after pop icons raised concerns when the singer left the stage before returning an hour later crying in her pajamas.
The band were playing the first gig of their Australian comeback tour in Perth on Thursday evening when bizarre scenes began to unfold.
It comes after pop icons sparked concern when the singer left the stage before returning an hour later crying in her pajamas
Concertgoers described the show as ‘awkward’ and ‘terrible’ after a series of strange incidents left audiences confused.
Mix94.5 producer Shelby Brady talked about the performance on Pete & Kymba for Breakfast on Friday morning, telling the hosts that the show was “instantly bad” but got worse when singer Lena Nystrom left the stage and returned crying in her pajamas.
The Euro-pop band is best known for their 1997 hit single Barbie Girl and kicked off their Australian tour in Perth in Metro City on Thursday evening.
Brady said the show started wrong before the band had even taken the stage, with the audience seeing an embarrassing mistake on a stage screen.
Pop group Aqua left the crowd confused after leaving the stage
After an hour, lead singer Lene Nystrom returned in her pajamas
“I knew they were off to a bad start when the screen behind them said ‘Hello Adelaide,’” she said.
While she described the first song, Cartoon Heroes, as having a “vibe,” the show continued to go downhill when Nystrom disappeared from the stage, saying the departure was the result of a “sound problem.”
“You could see the leading lady (Lene Nystrom) take her headpiece out during the song, but it didn’t seem like a big deal,” she said
“She walks away and she’s the singer, so they have to continue without her.”
Shelby said the remaining singers sparred before they all left the stage for an hour, confusing hundreds of concertgoers.
“It’s so awkward, no one knows what’s happening,” she said.
The pop group is best known for their hit single Barbie Girl
Lena Nystrom sat down for one of her songs after returning from a long break
The band seemed to be in good spirits before encountering problems
“They closed the bar so you couldn’t get drinks, you couldn’t sit anywhere.
‘People left because there was no communication at all. It was just an empty stage, with no one there.’
But the show got even worse when the singer returned to the show visibly upset and put on her pajamas.
‘They arrive again at ten o’clock in the evening. The singer previously wore a fluffy dress, she’s completely dressed in that and now she’s wearing her real pajamas,” Brady said.
“She was crying… breathing heavily the whole time and that was the whole hour long performance.”
Host Kymba Cahill had empathy for the singer, suggesting she might be having an “episode” and trying to get through the performance.
“Do you think maybe it started out as a good thing? But to me that sounds like she’s having some kind of episode,” Cahill said.
“If you take off your tight pleated outfit and you’re off stage for an hour and you come back crying and in your pajamas, that indicates something has gone wrong. She’s not doing well.’
The onstage blunder comes as the group was forced to curtail their shows in Australia due to disappointing demand.