Rod Stewart apologizes to Saskatoon after missing performance

Sir Rod Stewart is very sorry.

The British singer didn’t appear on stage at a performance at Saskatoon’s SaskTel Centre on Saturday night after suffering a vocal cord injury during his warmup immediately before he was scheduled to begin.

The cancellation was the second time in less than a year that the “Maggie May” singer had to cancel a concert in Saskatoon. The first cancellation was due to production issues.

On Monday, the venue announced that all tickets would be fully refunded, and Stewart added his own apology Wednesday evening in a video shared to social media.

“My dear friends in Saskatoon, so sorry I couldn’t turn up the other night,” Stewart said.

“Let me tell you what happened: I was warming my voice up an hour before I went on stage, and it just went. The doctor said it happens sometimes – it’s like a cramp.”

Stewart said he’s healthy now, and moving on to his next show in Ottawa.

“Hopefully I’ll come back and see you another day, and my deepest, deepest apologies,” Stewart said, blowing kisses at the camera.

The singer thanked Cheap Trick, the opening act, for “carrying the show” in his absence.

According to SaskTel Centre CEO Scott Ford, the cancellation Saturday marked the first time in the arena’s history that a performance was cancelled while ticket holders were already inside the venue.

My dear friends in Saskatoon, so sorry I couldn’t turn up the other night. Hopefully I can come back another day.

I’m healthy now and moving on to Ottawa, thank you to @cheaptrick for carrying the show pic.twitter.com/mOjWNeFKxa

— Sir Rod Stewart (@rodstewart) August 23, 2023