Mystery surrounds rapper's Auckland concert

American rapper The Game is scheduled to perform in Auckland tomorrow night - but all bets are off over whether or not he'll turn up.

The Game, currently in the middle of an Australian tour that has been plagued by rescheduling and cancellations, is due to perform at The Powerstation on Wednesday night.

The last-minute concert was tacked on to the Compton rapper's Australian tour schedule, with a press release issued to the Herald from Australia's Carrera Press Agency PR on behalf of promoters Hip Hop TV on September 1.

"The Jesus Piece tour is one of the largest hip-hop tours of Australia and New Zealand to date, and Game will also be making a feature documentary of his adventures, with cameras filming the rapper, his DJ, entourage and crew during their shows and behind the scenes as they take the country by storm," the press release said.

But a statement from Powerstation organisers, tweeted the day after that press release was issued, suggested the show wouldn't be going ahead.

Ticketek Australia is selling tickets for a Game show at the Metro Theatre for September 11 - the same night he is supposed to perform in Auckland.

Messages left with the PR agency, and tweets to The Game's account (@thegame) were not returned.

The tour has been troubled from the start, with last-minute reschedulings affecting most shows. At one point, the entire tour was reportedly scrapped for several hours.

Auckland's date was shifted from September 7 to 11 - but it was mentioned by the rapper himself in this tour promo video.

Townsville and Fremantle shows were cancelled due to "logistical issues".

Confused fans vented their frustration on The Game's Facebook page.

"Why isn't The Game listing all his his new shows here so we hear it first hand? Ticketek are still selling tickets for tonight's Sydney show. WTF is going on?," wrote Sarah Smith.

Shane Clugston wrote: "Is it still on? I'm so confused."

But The Game, who has played several successful shows in Australia and is due to perform in Melbourne tonight, seems to have been enjoying his time in Australia, regularly tweeting his adventures.

If he doesn't turn up, it wouldn't be the first time The Game hasn't showed up for a scheduled New Zealand concert. In 2007 he was a no-show at urban festival Roc the Block, a show that also featured Pitbull and Akon.

But he did perform here last year at Vector Arena.

"Auckland, it's going to get real awkward," said The Game in his tour promotional video.

For his Kiwi fans, those words appear to be getting more profound by the minute.

- nzherald.co.nz