Fans of British pop singer Sir Rod Stewart have been left hanging after he cancelled his Geelong concert, south-west of Melbourne, due to illness last night.
Just a few hours before gates were due to open, the 78-year-old shared on social media his performance was not going ahead.
In a Twitter post, Sir Rod said he was suffering from a viral throat infection and felt "downhearted" about the decision to pull out.
He was set to appear with Cyndi Lauper and Jon Stevens at Mount Duneed Estate in Victoria's south-east as part of A Day on The Green.
"Hello my friends. I'm absolutely downhearted that I'm disappointing my fans who bought tickets to A Day on The Green," Sir Rod 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.
"My greatest joy is performing for you, so I'm doing everything I can to get on the mend and back on stage!"
A Day on The Green posted the cancellation on social media at about 11.30am (AEDT) — four hours before the gates opened.
"We apologise for the disappointment and inconvenience to ticket holders," they wrote
"A further announcement regarding the concert arrangements will be made early next week."
Some fans expressed disappointment about how the announcement was made.
"Would've been good to receive an email/text and not have to find out from a random in a cafe," one fan wrote on social media.
"If one act was sick they could have put on the event with partial or full refunds with those performers that could attend in a gesture of goodwill and better customer experience instead of just thinking of the $," another said.
Sir Rod had to cancel his Australian tour last year due to a surge of COVID-19 in the country at the time.
He is due perform next at AEC Arena in Adelaide on Tuesday followed by two shows at Mt Cotton near Brisbane, then Pokolbin and Bowral in New South Wales, before heading to New Zealand.
