Sir Rod Stewart has revealed the reason behind yesterday’s eleventh hour cancellation of A Day on the Green in Victoria.
Posting to Instagram, Stewart shared he has a viral infection that has rendered him unable to sing.
“I’m absolutely downhearted that I’m disappointing my fans who bought tickets to A Day On The Green,” he wrote. “Late this morning I was advised that I have a viral infection and my throat is too irritated to sing. I’m only human and sometimes get sick just like you do.”
Fans of Stewart, and fellow music legends Cyndi Lauper and Jon Stevens, were left devastated after an announcement shortly before the gates were meant to open at Mound Duneed Estate in Geelong.
Posting a statement online, promoters Live Nation and Roundhouse Entertainment confirmed the event was cancelled: “Live Nation and Roundhouse Entertainment regret to announce that tonight’s performance, Saturday 18 March 2023, by Rod Stewart, Cyndi Lauper and Jon Stevens at Mt. Duneed Estate, Geelong will not go ahead, due to illness.”
Ticket holders were told to stand by for news in the coming days and to hold onto their tickets in the meantime.
“We apologise for the disappointment and inconvenience to ticket holders. A further announcement regarding the concert arrangements will be made early next week,” the statement read.
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Many fans took to social media to vent their frustrations at the cancellation and the way they were notified.
“Hope their insurance covers our accommodation and day off work. No email notification to ticket holders. Ended up receiving an email at 1.52pm, 63 minutes before the bus was due to collect us from hotel,” one wrote.
“Why haven’t I received any notification? Facebook isn’t good enough, I’m already in Geelong. Drove from Melbourne this morning and paid $400 for accommodation,” wrote another.
Roundhouse Entertainment’s Michael Newton defended the decision to use social media as a means of notifying ticket holders.
“Emails and texts were sent to all ticket purchasers via Ticketmaster earlier today,” he told The Geelong Advertiser. “We worked as quickly as possible to get the message out to everyone as soon as we were told the news about tonight’s show not going ahead and we started distributing information within 15 minutes of being informed ourselves.
Adding that he understood people were travelling specifically for the event, he said only the person who purchased the tickets would have received the information from Ticketmaster, so not all attendees would have received the message.
“Therefore, by sharing the news via social media this would ensure the news would get to as many of tonight’s concert-goers as possible, as quickly and efficiently as possible, regardless whether you were the purchaser or not,” he said.
