Entertainment
Sir Elton John’s Auckland gig cancelled 15 minutes before showtime due to intense flooding-Emily Bashforth-Entertainment – Metro
New Zealand declared a state of emergency.
Sir Elton John’s show was cancelled following the intense floods, forcing many to evacuate homes (Picture: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Sir Elton John’s Auckland show was thrown into chaos at the last minute, with the music legend having to cancel due to flooding.
Just minutes before the Your Song singer, 75, was set to take to the stage, fans in the venue were informed that the gig would not be going ahead.
Around 40,000 people were expected to attend the gig at Mt Smart Stadium in New Zealand’s largest city, with plenty already inside the stadium and fully prepared with waterproof ponchos before being sent home.
Taking to Twitter ahead of the concert – which was part of Sir Elton’s final farewell tour – promoter Frontier Touring announced that the concert had been cancelled due to unsafe weather conditions.
‘Auckland, due to unsafe weather conditions, tonight’s @eltonofficial concert for Friday 27 January will not be proceeding. The team is assessing things and will keep everyone across with further updates here. Thank you for your understanding,’ they wrote.
However, not everyone was satisfied with the correspondence, with the show being cancelled at 7:15pm, when Sir Elton was due to begin his set at 7:30pm.
Fans were already inside the venue, waiting for the star to come on stage (Picture: AP)
Casey Mitchell, a Briton based in New Zealand, later told Sky News that he was ‘furious.’
‘It was raining heavily on the way to the stadium and I kept checking for announcements but nothing came, despite puddles being up to my ankles.
‘After the gig was called off, hundreds of people queued in the downpours for the shuttle buses and I saw some people chant for Elton in the hope he’d come on – but it was like a literal river there.’
New Zealand has since declared a state of emergency due to the intense flooding (Picture: AP)
Floods have engulfed cars, with water rising to waist level
Sir Elton – who is due to play Glastonbury later this year – is also due to play in the same stadium on January 28, but no announcement has been made yet.
Ed Sheeran is set to play in the same venue in a week’s time.
The cancellation comes after Auckland’s mayor Wayne Brown declared a state of emergency due to the intense floods.
Residents in the worst-affected areas were told to leave their homes as chaos engulfed the city.
Motorways became blocked and airports closed, leaving many stranded in the city.
Residents had no choice but to evacuate their homes in kayaks, with the water waist-deep.
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A body was also found washed up in Wairau Valley on Auckland’s north shore, the NZ Herald reports.
New Zealand prime minister Chris Hipkins assured on Friday evening that ‘all relevant government agencies are working flat out to help in an extraordinary set of circumstances’.
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