LONDON (AP) - Justin Bieber says he is “getting better,” after fainting backstage at a concert in London, and the venue says Friday’s show is scheduled to go ahead as planned.
A spokesman for the O2 Arena said the 19-year-old pop star was treated backstage during Thursday’s concert after becoming short of breath, but recovered and finished his set.
“As far as we are concerned everything is on, on, on” for Friday’s show, Jeremy King said.
“He was treated by our team of medics and after further examination they didn’t find anything more serious or worrying.”
A spokeswoman for Bieber said he was recovering after Thursday’s incident, which saw him given oxygen before returning to the stage.
“Justin has been released from the hospital after a check-up and, while he’s feeling a little under the weather, he’s currently planning on going ahead with tonight’s show,” the spokeswoman said Friday. She demanded anonymity to discuss the star’s condition.
Bieber later posted a shirtless photo of himself in a hospital bed, saying he was getting better and listening to Janis Joplin. Before that on Twitter he thanked “everyone pulling me thru tonight.”
“Best fans in the world,” he wrote. “Figuring out what happened. Thanks for the love.”
Video footage from the concert shows Bieber appearing to fade during a performance of his up-tempo hit, “Beauty and a Beat.” He slows down, puts a hand to his head then bends over, resting his hands on knees before walking slowly to the back of the stage.
The AP spoke to 18-year-old journalism student Prithvi Pandya, who shot the footage, to confirm its authenticity.
“When he started `Beauty and a Beat’ you could see he was struggling,” said Pandya, who was near the front of the crowd. “He took lots of drinks of water, that seemed unusual, and he was really sweaty, sweating a helluva lot.
“Toward the end of it, he went backstage. We didn’t see him fainting. They brought on dancers to entertain, and I knew something was wrong at that point.”
Bieber’s manager, Scooter Braun, appeared onstage and told the crowd that the singer was feeling “very low of breath” but would come back to finish the show.
Jazz Chappell, a 20-year-old concertgoer who brought her younger sister and her friend to the show, said that In the nearly 30 minutes he was offstage, some fans started to leave. Once his manager announced what had happened, Chappell said many fans in the audience were gasping and crying, while others kept cheering for him to return.
“I thought, `Give the guy a break. He just fainted. He’s not a performing horse. Let him rest a second,’” said Chappell.
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