Sir Elton John has rescheduled one of his upcoming Auckland concerts after cutting short his concert last night due to illness.
A press release from music promoter Blackout Music this afternoon says Sir Elton has been advised by doctors to move his Mt Smart Stadium concert originally scheduled for tomorrow to Wednesday to give him an extra day of recovery on his current medication.
"I’m looking forward to seeing you on Wednesday and Thursday evenings at Mt Smart Stadium,” Sir Elton says.
The show's promoter says all tickets remain valid for the rescheduled show on Wednesday this week and all concert details including transport remain the same for Wednesday.
Those unable to attend the rescheduled show can contact Ticketmaster to request a refund. Limited tickets are still available for Sir Elton’s show on Thursday.
The superstar kicked off his six-date NZ tour in the south last night.
At the start of last night's show at Mt Smart, Sir Elton mentioned he had been diagnosed with "walking pneumonia".
Concertgoers reported he had slumped into his chair before medical personnel came and checked on him after he sang Someone Saved My Life tonight.
Sir Elton was reportedly well enough to continue the show after five minutes, but a short time later he told the crowd, "I don't how much longer I can go on."
The musical superstar penned the song for musical biopic Rocketman.
After finishing Candle in the Wind he was helped off stage, but then returned to perform Funeral for a Friend.
Soon afterwards, an emotional Sir Elton told the crowd, "I've completely lost my voice - I'm so sorry," before being escorted from stage.
Consumer NZ told 1 NEWS today that it's unlikely last night's concertgoers would be entitled to a refund.
"The concert still went ahead and Elton John played for two hours so it’s unlikely a consumer would be able to argue there had been a breach of the Consumer Guarantees Act entitling them to compensation," said acting chief executive Karen McDonald. "If Elton had stopped performing after two songs, that would be a different story."
However, if ticket holders for the concert that was initially scheduled for tomorrow are unable to attend on Thursday instead, they are entitled to a full refund, she said.
Air New Zealand also made the following offer due to the schedule change.
"As a gesture of goodwill, Air New Zealand is offering customers affected by this change the opportunity to defer travel plans by one day without cost by calling its contact centre. The airline will waive any service fees or fare difference associated with moving the booking.
"Customers who no longer wish to travel can also choose to the hold the value of their fare in credit for up to 12 months. Service fees will be waived but any fare difference will apply," the airline says.
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