The Finbar Wright concert in Iontas Theatre, Castleblayney on Saturday night last, 8 May came to an abrupt end when the artist stopped in mid-song and walked off the stage.

The singer’s sudden exit happened half an hour into his performance and caused much consternation among the audience who had been enjoying the show. After approximately one minute the leader of Mr Wright’s musicians left the stage and shortly after Iontas Artistic Director John McArdle came onstage to explain what had happened.

It transpired that Mr Wright had been suffering from a throat infection for the previous fortnight. Though uncomfortable at times it hadn’t affected his voice and as one of the backing musicians said afterwards, “No matter how bad Finbar is he can always sing.” However, in the middle of what was described as a “beautiful” rendering of ‘Strangers in the Night’ Mr Wright’s voice appeared to simply give up. In the words of one of his backing musicians, “If he wasn’t going to give at least a near-perfect concert there was no point in trying to struggle on. He wouldn’t do that to his audience.”

A concert set for The Gaiety Theatre, Dublin for the following night was also postponed and a visit to Mr Wright’s doctor confirmed that what had started as a pollen infection had turned into a bacterial infection. This quite common ailment will take about a week to clear up and the popular singer’s concerts are being re-scheduled.

The date for the re-scheduled Iontas concert is Thursday, 3 June. Tickets issued for the first concert will still be valid and there are still some seats available for anyone wishing to attend the re-scheduled performance.  

Mr Mc Ardle wishes to apologise for any inconvenience caused but added, “The half-hour the audience got will have whetted their appetite for more. We hope they enjoy Finbar’s return.”