Justin Bieber Goes Unplugged after Power Outage at the Apollo Theater

Bieber fever was so hot at the legendary Harlem music hall that it set off the fire alarm.

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Justin Bieber performs at the Apollo Theater in New York City for "Justin Bieber: All Around the World" airing Wednesday, June 20.

It’s Justin Bieber like you’ve never heard him before — only not on purpose.

The Apollo Theater suffered a power outage during a Justin Bieber performance on Monday night, the Associated Press reports, prompting the teen idol to bang out a drum solo and lead his fans in a singalong version of his hit song ‘Boyfriend’. Bieber was playing a private show in front of a packed theater when the power interruption knocked out several on-stage instruments and some lighting. Shortly afterward, a fire alarm sounded. “Literally,” said Bieber’s manager Scooter Braun later, “the boy blew up the Apollo.”

According to his twitter feed, Bieber had been looking forward to his performance in the Apollo, where many superstars, including his personal hero, Michael Jackson, have performed. He tweeted Monday afternoon:

(MORE: Justin Bieber Sends Out Matt Lauer’s First Tweet)

The outage lasted 40 minutes. At first, Bieber took it in stride, joking that the problem had been caused by all of the “hot girls in here.” (Said girls swooned.) Bieber then proceeded to take to the drums—one of the few instruments not affected by the outage—and play a solo, asking the crowd to join him in serenading his manager for his birthday.

Eventually, both Bieber and Braun expressed frustration with the duration of the power outage since the show was being taped for an NBC special later this week. But the teen idol returned to the stage and apologized to his fans: “I’m sorry the power is out…[But] you guys have always had my back. I’m going to sing ‘Boyfriend’ and you’re going to sing it back to me.”

Apollo rep Nina Flowers called it a classic “Apollo moment,” saying, “He could have stopped; he could have not gone on and said, I did everything. But he came back on.”

Bieber’s new album Believe featuring the hit single “Boyfriend” is out Tuesday, June 19.

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