As Britney Spears’ Circus tour is still in full swing, incidents do happen and, because this is the much-expected comeback of the once Princess of Pop, they’re bound to make the headlines. The latest such incident took place the other night in Vancouver, when the singer left the stage bothered by the heavy marijuana smoke that was drifting from the audience, as gossip blogger Perez Hilton informs.

Sources are telling Perez that, after the first three songs, a visibly upset Britney simply dropped everything and walked off stage. She did not say what bothered her or for how long she would be gone, which made the fans believe that she had just killed the entire performance, especially since all the light also went off almost instantly.

“The ‘Toxic’ performer, who doesn’t even sing live at her shows, walked off stage after just three songs. The concert came to a complete standstill, lights off, for over 20 minutes – when a voice came over the speaker system and announced that the show would not continue if people kept smoking marijuana (and cigarettes) in the arena. The announcer claimed it was ‘unsafe’ for Britney and the performers to continue with the concert. Almost 40 minutes later, Spears finally took to the stage again, much to the relief of the thousands in attendance. But, one concertgoer tells us, ‘She did not look into it at all!’” Perez writes.

However, most fans easily forgot about the incident once Britney Spears got back on stage and continued with her show, it has also been noted. What was truly bad about the evening, some say, was the fact that they did not know what had happened to make the singer storm off, as neither did they know whether they would still see the show they had paid money for. A publicist for Spears has apologized for the inconvenience and the interruption in the meantime.

“We want to apologize to all the fans who attended our Vancouver show tonight for the brief pause in Britney’s set.” the rep tells Perez. At the same time, other sources are explaining that the heavy smoke was really an issue, since crew members were actually sick because of it. “Crew members above the stage became ill due to a ventilation issue. We were concerned for the lighting guys and everyone else working on the show.”

Britney too was upset about the incident, as she reportedly told the audience at the end of the show, “Thanks Vancouver. You were wonderful. Drive safe. Don’t smoke weed!”