Sting forced to cancel concert after 'dangerous' safety concerns

Sting has had to cancel a performance due to 'dangerous' issues coming to light. The musician told fans that the safety of those attending his shows is paramount to him, and he had no choice but to pull the concert.

He was due to perform in Parco Ragazzi del '99, a park in Bassano del Grappa, a city in North East Italy, as part of his Sting 3.0 tour, but unfortunate weather conditions had since swept in, with a warning for a severe thunderstorm.

On Sunday, while the temperature was 27 degrees, a severe thunderstorm had been forcasted in the afternoon, sparking concern for organisers.

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Meanwhile, from 4pm on Monday, heavy thunderstorms are still expected right through until 8am Tuesday, before kicking off again at 3pm. In a heartfelt update, the musician explained to his online followers why he couldn't go ahead with the show.

The singer said: "The mayor of Bassano del Grappa wisely said it would have been too dangerous for the performance to take place with the possibility of lightning and extremely high winds last night.

"The safety of my audience, band and crew is paramount. I promise we will return as soon as we can." Fans have since rushed to the comment section, with one writing: "Safety first."

"@theofficialsting Another time," said a second. While a third went on to say that they would be seeing Sting perform in another Italian city in the coming weeks.

"We were waiting for you in the Ponte Vecchio," commented another. Now, he has concerts coming up in cities including Udine in Italy, Germany, Czech Republic, Finland and Sweden.

The cancellation comes just weeks after one of Sting's UK shows faced a delay after a member of the band supporting him suffered a cardiac arrest on stage. Lionel, Duke of the Christians, had been performing with the band at Liverpool's Pier Head when he fell ill on stage.

Lead singer of the band, Garry, requested urgent assistance from the medical teams before a privacy screen was set up on stage. It was during this time that medics worked rapidly to perform CPR on Lionel, whose heart had stopped beating.

Lionel was subsequently rushed to the hospital via ambulance after the emergency staff managed to resuscitate him. But while many wondered whether the show would continue, Sting later took to the stage and reassured fans who had packed the waterfront that Lionel was doing ok and was receiving treatment.

While on stage, the Grammy Award-winning musician said: "The drummer in the band before is OK. He's in hospital. All of us are praying he's going to be fine. Our thoughts are with him." As the sad incident unfolded, event organisers kept fans updated throughout with messages being displayed on huge screens.

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