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Justin Bieber Gives Free Tickets, Food To Fans Before Late Iowa Show

By Page Mackinley
Published on: 04:49 PST, Jul 8, 2013

Justin Bieber gave fans free tickets, McDonalds, and bread, before performing at his Iowa concert on Sunday.

The Des Moines’ Wells Fargo Arena concert also produced a late show start for the pop star.

Bieber reportedly hit the stage at 10:05 pm.

The first support act singer-songwriter Mike Posner began his performance at 7:10 pm, while the second support Hot Chelle Rae’s set was over by 8:30 pm, according to local media.

A spokesperson for the Iowa Events Center, Viki Arias, said the official start time for the main act at the concert was 9:30 pm and that Bieber came on 25 minutes late.

“The rest of the show went off without a hitch,” she added.

The Iowa concert is Bieber’s 10th show on the second leg of his Believe world tour.

The 19-year-old previously came under fire for a late show at London’s 02 Arena back in March. It was widely reported as a “two hour” delay, but Bieber disputes that and says he went onstage 49 minutes past his specific call time.

In April, the singer was over two hours late onstage at a concert in Germany, and in May he was two hours late for a concert in Dubai.

However, the root of this recurring issue may be a discrepancy between the time concert-goers expect Bieber onstage after the support acts, and the start time of an entire show including the supports.

Iowa event organizers insist the singer was 25 minutes late to stage — although at 10:05 pm, a call time of 21:30 pm makes that a 35 minute delay — but the delay has been widely reported as three hours.

On a lighter note, before the Iowa show kicked off Bieber surprised three fans with gifts of tickets and food.

The three female fans who are known as @ashtonourry, @rauhliniall, and @AhoyBieber on their Twitter accounts, waited outside the Wells Fargo Arena despite not having tickets for the show.

Hoping to catch a glimpse of their idol, the fans stood by the tour buses parked in the Arena’s lot.

A look at their respective timelines reveals the fans had tried to sneak into the “Meet and Greets’ which are organized by the tour before every show, where small groups of fans with special tickets are able to chat to Bieber and pose for photographs.

However, they were unable to get in as they didn’t have the necessary, pre-allocated wristbands for access.

According to @ashtonnourry, whose real name is Nicole Criner, Bieber spotted them as he walked back to his tour bus after the ‘Meets and Greets’ had finished.

After asking Nicole and the two other fans if they had tickets to the show, the teen star gave them free tickets along with the bread he was eating and a McDonald’s meal.

At the time, and since, all three fans have tweeted about their experience.

One of the fans @AhoyBieber traveled from England to the US to meet the heartthrob.

For his part, Bieber tweeted a message to the fans saying it was good to meet them and that he hoped they enjoyed the show.

The singer is scheduled to play Chicago’s United Center July 9 before moving on to Indianapolis.


[Image via 6 Lyrics]

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