Volbeat walked off stage halfway into their first song at a gig in Belfast last night, leaving fans staring at an empty stage until they learnt the gig had been cancelled altogether.

Videos posted on social media show lead singer Michael Poulsen walking off stage twice during two attempts at their most recent single ‘Pelvis on Fire‘.

The Danish rock band said technical issues and problems with Micheal’s voice were to blame for the cancellation in a statement posted on Volbeat’s social media channels just before midnight.

The banned pulled out of a scheduled gig in Bristol last weekend, citing illness. Support acts Baroness and Danko Jones played the O2 Academy gig anyway, without the lead act.

Fans on social media say Baroness and Danko Jones played their support slots in Belfast last night despite any technical issues, with one saying: “Danko Jones sound was awful, through no fault of their own, but they battered through it and played a blinder. Sometimes that’s what it takes.”

Others complained the band walked off stage without explanation, leaving the audience in the lurch.

@VOLBEAT cancelled in Belfast after half a song due to technical issues with the sound! Band just walked off stage and left everyone looking at this for 15mins with no updates. Incredibly poor. Fans deserve more than just a refund, be interesting to see if there's a statement. pic.twitter.com/n6ZTOYUoA3 — Ryan Denney (@ryandenney6) October 3, 2019

Well flying over from Newcastle for @VOLBEAT turned out to be a disaster – half of one song & it gets cancelled due to technical issues — Paul 'The View' Carver (@tenaka66) October 3, 2019

Volbeat’s statement in full reads: “We in Volbeat want to extend our most heartfelt apologies for having to cancel tonight’s show in Belfast. As many of you know, Michael has been having some throat issues and we ran into multiple technical issues on stage that prevented the band from being able to hear each other play.

“While he has mostly recovered his voice at this point, it was decided that had he continued to play the show this way he would have risked blowing out his voice again and having to cancel even more shows.

“We’re gutted that we weren’t able to perform for you tonight, but we will be back to reschedule the show as soon as we possibly can”.

The gig that never was @VOLBEAT gutted that we only got half of the 1st song, twice pic.twitter.com/dAj4XAvNHW — Dave Newman (@davenewmandave) October 3, 2019

There’s no word either way on ticket refunds, or if last night’s tickets will remain valid for the rescheduled gig. We reached out to the venue, Belfast’s Ulster Hall, who told us ticketholders will be sent an email this afternoon with further information.

Volbeat have a gig in Dublin scheduled tonight, followed by gigs in France, Luxembourg and Spain starting on Sunday. We’ve asked Dublin’s Olympia Theatre to confirm tonight’s gig is still going ahead.

Check out more reactions on social media below:

Volbeat singer stopped the show halfway through the first song, and they all walked off stage. Some of the crowd started chanting “one more song”. Lol good old Belfast. — Steve Stormzone (@SteveStormzone) October 3, 2019

@VOLBEAT come on guys. Stop acting like princesses. You sounded fine, so get back on that stage! pic.twitter.com/j1sVqUWfUc — Axfried (@Axfried) October 3, 2019

Agree with you didn’t look interested, girl from Manchester with 8 yr old first gig, spent £500 getting over, poor! — Andrew Williamson (@AndrewPaul70) October 3, 2019

Danko Jones sound was awful, through no fault of their own, but they battered through it and played a blinder. Sometimes that's what it takes — Philip McCarroll 2.0 (@philmccarroll) October 3, 2019

https://twitter.com/laird2707/status/1179984872569524224

@VOLBEAT Totally enjoyed the whole 5 minutes you played tonight. Just wish you had the balls to come and tell the fans what was happening yourself.#bbbbbbbbbbBYE — Jordan Savage (@Shazaaaaaaaam) October 3, 2019

1st opportunity to see Volbeat I was underage and couldn’t go, 2nd time they cancelled, 3rd I was so broke I couldn’t afford a ticket, 4th time I was out of the country. Today is the my 5th chance and after Belfast last night, it looks like I’ll be waiting until my 6th one — Scauldy Ste (@ckyhellion) October 4, 2019

Featured image credit: Markus Felix, PushingPixels / ( CC BY-SA 3.0 )