Daryl Hall forced to cut PNE performance short due to illness

Fans of Daryl Hall — half of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame duo Hall & Oates — got to catch at least a portion of his show at the PNE on Wednesday.

The musician was forced to cut his Summer Night Concerts performance at the annual Fair short as he wasn’t feeling well. Hall was able to get through about three songs before telling the crowd he couldn’t continue.

“He left the stage and he was not able to return,” Laura Ballance, who speaks for the PNE, told 1130 NewsRadio Thursday morning.

While she understands this may have been disappointing for fans, she says most people in the crowd expressed their support.

“We’re all sending our good wishes his way. He wasn’t well and he wanted to express to his fans in Vancouver that he looks forward to coming back. He was very sorry and he looked forward to coming back to Vancouver soon,” said Ballance.

“People in the audience were incredibly understanding, people were calling out, ‘We love you, Daryl.’ People left without any incident at all and I think were disappointed but were concerned for him and very understanding.”

She explains all ticketholders who bought online were refunded Wednesday night. Anyone who bought tickets at the Fair were asked to get a refund from the box office.

“The vast, vast majority had bought online and were refunded right away,” said Ballance. “I doubt there would be anybody who hadn’t been refunded, but if there was, they should just contact TicketLeader and it won’t be a problem, they’ll be issued a full refund.”

Hall did not get into specifics about his illness. Ballance says he did try to push through but just wasn’t able to continue.

“We made the decision immediately to refund all tickets,” she added.

Ballance admits “it’s quite uncommon to have an artist not be able to perform, but it does happen.”

“There’s nothing you can do. He came, he did his sound check, and there was no indication that he wouldn’t be able to continue. But, obviously, if a person isn’t well, that takes priority over anything else,” she said.

The PNE Summer Night Concerts series runs through to Sept. 2.