Dad makes plea to Co-op Live bosses and Olivia Rodrigo after 15 weeks of silence

A dad-of-two has urged Co-op Live and Olivia Rodrigo to communicate with fans about her postponed gigs in Manchester. Matt Shephard from Cumbria says his family are now over £400 out of pocket after the singer’s shows were cancelled back in May.

Now, 15 weeks on, parents and fans like Matt are still left in the dark about when Rodrigo will be returning to Manchester. Speaking to the MEN, Matt, 48, said: “I appreciate these things are hard to rearrange and it wasn’t Olivia Rodrigo’s fault but not making any kind of announcement is within her team’s control.

READ MORE: Extra late-night train services between Manchester and Liverpool for huge August gigs

“In comparison, my wife and I were due to see Blink182 last August, but Travis had to return to the USA for a family emergency, so the show was cancelled with 4 hours' notice. That was rearranged within a few weeks. The new show was in 12 months, so it’s been a wait, but at least we knew what was going on!"

Matt had bought the tickets to Olivia’s show on Stubhub as a 15^th birthday present for his son who is a huge fan. His wife had planned to travel with their son from Cumbria for the pair to watch the show. Matt says they are unable to refund the tickets until the gig is cancelled due to where they bought them but they would prefer it went ahead so they can celebrate his son's birthday properly.

“My son is a huge Olivia Rodrigo fan,” said Matt. “My wife was going to take him as she is also a fan, so they had t-shirts made up with lyrics from their favourite Olivia Rodrigo song.

“So, as it stands our son still hasn’t had his present for his birthday which was back in January. This 15-week period of silence is very poor. We looked at schedules and there was a window of