A Sam Smith concert-goer has revealed that fans were left sitting in complete darkness on the floor of Manchester Arena after the singer's concert was unexpectedly cut short on Wednesday night.
The Stay With Me singer, 31, left the stage at the AO Arena after just four songs, leaving fans in the crowd wondering what was going on.
While some suspected a power cut or technical issue had occurred, others harboured more sinister worries six years on from the Manchester bombing tragedy.
Sam had excited fans just hours before the gig kicked off by teasing Madonna as a surprise guest on stage.
However, things went awry when Sam left the stage in the middle of his fourth song during a chaotic night at the Manchester AO Arena before the venue was later 'evacuated'.
Speaking exclusively to The Mirror, concert-goer and Sam Smith fan, Glenn Porter shared an insight into the disastrous concert as he said he and his friends felt utterly disappointed after 'spending a small fortune' to see the singer.
Lifting the lid on the bizarre night, Glenn detailed: "Fourth song in everyone was buzzing, the atmosphere was unreal everyone just enjoying themselves and then at the end of 'Too good at goodbyes' Sam walked off stage with his backing singers.
"The lights went down and the music stopped. We all thought this was part of the show until someone came over the tannoy saying that they have had to pause the show and they’ll be back with us very soon.
"This left everyone wondering what was going on, 10 minutes passed and then they came back on the tannoy again to say they have having technical difficulties and they will be back with us as soon as they can, but in the meantime they need to put the lights on.
"At this point the crowds knew they weren’t coming back on stage any time soon so started going to the toilet and bar.
"We had standing tickets, and people all around us just started to sit down on the floor.
"After 40 minutes of waiting we got an announcement to say they are having to cancel the show due to Sam’s voice.
"We all had so many questions on what had happened after spending a small fortune to then only get to hear four songs.
"It left us all so disappointed as so many of us had travelled to come and see Sam on his Gloria tour."
Following the disaster concert, Sam took to social media to explain what had occured as they explained that something was 'really wrong' with their voice.
"I don't know what to say honestly. I fought off a virus a few weeks ago and since then we have travelled across Europe and had such incredible shows," they said in the statement.
"Today in soundcheck I felt fine and was so excited to give Manchester an amazing show tonight, with a special surprise guest at the end but during my third song, I noticed something wrong with my voice.
"I prayed it was just my voice waking up for the show but into the fourth song I could feel something was really wrong.
"I came off stage and have tried everything to get my voice back in gear but it won't. I am honestly heartbroken I couldn't finish the show tonight for you all. I love you all. I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry".
Following their statement, Sam has since announced announced they will be cancelling further performances following their concert in Manchester being unexpectedly cut short on Wednesday night.
Rescheduled shows set to take place in Birmingham and Glasgow have been postponed, with fans with tickets to the gigs being offered refunds.
Amid all the confusion surrounding the incident on Wednesday , Sam has taken to social media to issue a new statement - revealing more gigs have been cancelled.
The statement shared on the Unholy singer's Instagram Stories reads: "DUE TO VOCAL ISSUES DURING LAST NIGHT'S MANCHESTER PERFORMANCE, REGRETTABLY WE WILL BE CANCELLING THE RESCHEDULED BIRMINGHAM AND GLASGOW SAM SMITH SHOWS. REFUNDS WILL BE AVAILABLE AT POINT OF PURCHASE FOR ALL THREE DATES; MANCHESTER, BIRMINGHAM AND GLASGOW.
"A SPOKESPERSON SAID 'DOCTORS HAVE ADVISED DUE TO A VOCAL CORD INJURY, SAM MUST HAVE COMPLETE VOCAL REST. SAM IS HEARTBROKEN TO HAVE HAD TO CANCEL THESE SHOWS BUT THEY HAVE BEEN TOLD BY DOCTORS THAT IF THEY KEEP SINGING, THEY WILL DO PERMANENT DAMAGE TO THEIR VOICE.
"IF THEY TAKE SOME REST THEY WILL BE ABLE TO PERFORM AGAIN."
Naturally, concert-goers on Wednesday night were left incredibly frustrated with the situation - particularly given the recent anniversary of the Ariana Grande Manchester Arena bombing tragedy which took place on May 22, 2017.
One mum in particular was left terrified after she brought her 13-year-old daughter to the concert.
The frustrated mum took to Twitter to call out Manchester Arena organisers for their lack of care given the past trauma of what happened after 22 people lost their lives during an Ariana Grande concert.
The concert-goer said she and her daughter were left in the dark for almost half an hour before the lights were eventually turned back on and Sam appeared back on stage.
"It's just not ok. I had my 13-year-old sat with me in the dark for 20 minutes, before another 20 in the light. On nearly to the day of the awful things that happened and you had us sat in the dark," the mum explained.
"Genuinely hope Sam is ok, but it was handled awfully," she added.
The sudden cancellation comes after they cancelled a previous concert.
At the end of April, they apologised to fans after being forced to cancel another concert due to a mystery illness.
