Veteran Kiwi rockers Hello Sailor have been forced to cancel their 40th anniversary tour after lead singer Graham Brazier suffered a heart attack.
Ticketmaster is offering full refunds to anyone that has already bought tickets.
Brazier is recovering at Auckland Hospital following emergency surgery. He was holidaying in the Bay of Islands when the medical emergency occurred last week.
While the 62-year-old is in a stable condition and expected to recover, the time he'll take to recuperate means the seven-date North Island tour cannot go ahead as planned.
However, a benefit concert is planned to take place at Auckland's Powerstation on Friday, September 18.
"So sorry to disappoint everyone. We were all really looking forward to the tour and we will be back," says a message on the band's official Facebook page.
"In the meantime Graham needs to recover and we hope you all support the benefit concert."
Expecting that all the musicians scheduled for the tour will perform at the fundraiser in some way, promoter Brent Eccles says ticketholders for the Auckland Hello Sailor concert can use them for it instead of getting a refund.
Ticketholders for the other tour venues - Tauranga, Napier, Palmerston North, Wellington and New Plymouth - can contribute their ticket price to Brazier as a donation.
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