Better late than never for Corey Hart fans

MONTREAL – Amy Jordan is a missionary living in Kenya, and a huge fan of home-grown songsmith Corey Hart.

Fans like her have had Hart`s farewell concert – originally scheduled for Saturday – on their calendars for months. But something came up that threw a wrench into her carefully laid plans.

“It’s about a nine hour flight from Nairobi to Paris, and like another seven-and-a-half hours from Paris to Montreal,” she said. “We heard the news en route.”

That news: the show would be postponed to accommodate the possibility of the Canadiens playing the Rangers in a Game 7 that never ended up occurring.

The switch threw many die-hard Hart fans in disarray as they scrambled to make other arrangements. Many fans tell stories of family members making last-minute sacrifices to catch the show.

Kitchener, Ontario resident Franklin Sherrard, for instance, booked time off work so he could drive his wife Phoebe to the concert.

She’s “been wanting to see Corey Hart for 25 years, that’s before I met her,” he said.

Yayoi Halle was in transit in an airport in Frankfurt when she heard the show would be moved. The new date means that she will miss her daughter’s fifth birthday, and her husband has to take extra time off work.

“I was in shock. But he said, ‘stay,'” she recalled.

Musicians are notoriously fickle when it comes to making farewell announcements. When asked what she’d think if Hart decided to come back again.

“I’d think it would be great,” she said.