Justin Bieber to resume world tour after facial paralysis

The Canadian pop star will perform in Dubai later this year

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Justin Bieber is resuming his Justice world tour later this month after he postponed numerous dates owing to a rare disorder that paralysed half of his face.

The multi-Grammy winner announced in a post on social media in June that he was suffering from Ramsay Hunt syndrome, which causes facial paralysis and affects nerves in the face through a shingles outbreak.

Bieber’s post came after he was forced to cancel his shows in Toronto and Washington, DC. The singer demonstrated in the video that he could barely move one side of his face, calling the ailment “pretty serious”.

“As you can see, this eye is not blinking. I can't smile on this side of my face, this nostril will not move,” Bieber explained.

“So, there's full paralysis on this side of my face. So, for those who are frustrated by my cancellations of the next shows, I'm just physically, obviously, not capable of doing them. This is pretty serious, as you can see.”

The tour, which began on Sunday in Mexico and goes on to include Europe, South America, South-East Asia and Australia before ending in Poland, will resume on July 31, with a show at Italy's Lucca Summer Festival.

In May, it was announced Bieber would also be bringing the tour to Dubai, as he returns to the emirate for a concert at the Coca-Cola Arena on October 8.

“This arena production is nothing short of phenomenal," says Dubai promoter Thomas Ovesen. "We will turn the arena into a very intimate performance venue and this is something that we can now reproduce because of a venue like Coca-Cola Arena.

“I would definitely say this is the most elaborate Justin Bieber production I have ever come across.”

Bieber previewed the tour with a one-off performance at Saudi Arabia's inaugural Formula One race last year.

- AP contributed to this report

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Updated: July 20, 2022, 4:06 AM