Kylie Minogue leaves stage after 15 minutes

Reporter: Jan Harwood
Date online: 13/01/2007

Kylie Minogue fans were deeply disappointed on Saturday (13 January) when she left the stage due to illness in mid set at the MEN Arena. Rochdale Councillor Jean Ashworth was at the show and talking to Rochdale Online by mobile phone described the chaos that ensued, made worse she said by the "the poor management at the Arena" causing severe traffic problems in the city.

Kylie announced that she was feeling ill with a cold before the concert began and she only managed to sing a few of her tracks, including a duet with her sister Danni, before leaving the stage, not to return.

Problems began when the Arena did not announce to the fans whether the Australian star would be coming back on stage or not. Councillor Ashworth said: "Obviously we all appreciate Kylie’s situation as she’s overcome a severe illness. This is not her fault but it is bad management. People were walking out after twenty minutes because no-one told us what was happening. We’ve paid a lot for our tickets; there should be an emergency plan when something like this happens."

The concert was all over by 9.15 and with thousands of people leaving the Arena at the same time, there is traffic chaos in the city centre. Councillor Ashworth described her own predicament: "We’re stuck on floor ten of the Arena car park with no sign of us moving and we’re going to be here for another two hours at least."

Although Kylie said that she was ill with a cold, fans will still be concerned given that she only recently began touring again after recovering from breast cancer, having been diagnosed with the illness in May 2005.