{"id":900399,"date":"2026-06-29T08:37:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T08:37:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/900399\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T08:37:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T08:37:22","slug":"kirk-franklin-concert-canceled-by-weather-during-philadelphia-celebration-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/900399\/","title":{"rendered":"Kirk Franklin concert canceled by weather during Philadelphia celebration"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHILADELPHIA<\/strong> – Severe weather cut short Sunday’s Gospel on Independence Concert, canceling the event an hour in and preventing headliner Kirk Franklin from taking the stage.<\/p>\n

Lightning in the area halted the show, which had begun at 7 p.m., shortly before the skies opened up with heavy rain. Despite the abrupt cancellation, the gospel mega-star and icon made a brief, surprise appearance from the sunroof of an SUV to greet fans as they evacuated the area in the downpour.<\/p>\n

While fans who had waited for hours understood the safety risks, many were deeply disappointed by the sudden turnaround.<\/p>\n

Mixed reactions from attendees<\/p>\n

What they’re saying<\/strong><\/p>\n

“I was ready to see Kirk Franklin, but unfortunately everything happens for a reason,” said one attendee, who spoke with FOX 29. “Hopefully, they postpone the day, and we will be able to see him another time.”<\/p>\n

Others wished for better contingency plans given the forecast. “I just wish they were a little more prepared and had tents, just knowing that it might possibly rain,” another fan noted.<\/p>\n

“It’s not safe, so it’s best that everybody go home,” added a woman who attended the event with her daughter.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the evening, the crowd did get to enjoy performances by several opening artists, alongside food trucks and vendors lined up along Market Street.<\/p>\n

“I love gospel music. I sing in the choir at church as well,” said attendee Christine Baxter.<\/p>\n

“The funnel cake I had, the classic funnel cake with a lemonade\u2014and I\u2019m going over here to get a chicken and waffle,” Kareem Bryant of West Philadelphia added.<\/p>\n

The concert had drawn excited fans from all over the region who were eager to see the headliner.<\/p>\n

“I just saw a billboard that Kirk Franklin was going to be here, and I was like, ‘I have to come. I have to hear all his songs,'” Nicole Pshenitsyna, who traveled from Newtown in Bucks County with Mirabell Krabchenko added.<\/p>\n

“I want to be down here again this weekend because it’s like Philly, where it all started,” Krabchenko, who is from Bensalem, added.<\/p>\n

The Source<\/strong><\/p>\n

Information from FOX 29 reporting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA – Severe weather cut short Sunday’s Gospel on Independence Concert, canceling the event an hour in and…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":900400,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,364671,364672,252897,1448,2830,1311,5313,207169,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-900399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-america","tag-contingency-plans","tag-funnel-cake","tag-kirk-franklin","tag-pa","tag-pennsylvania","tag-philadelphia","tag-severe-weather","tag-surprise-appearance","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116832492422099285","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=900399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/900400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}