The Port Macquarie date of the Red Hot Summer tour, which was scheduled to take place last Saturday (February 4), was canceled due to weather-induced damage to the venue.
“Due to damage sustained in a Super Cell storm this afternoon, [tomorrow’s] The Red Hot Summer Tour at Westport Park, Port Macquarie will not go ahead,” organizers wrote in a Facebook post announcing the cancellation. The supercell reportedly caused extensive damage to the staging, production and infrastructure of the venue, leaving “organizers with no alternative but to cancel the event.”
The post went on to promise a rescheduled date for Red Hot Summer in Port Macquarie in the “coming hours”, but no date has been announced at the time of writing. According to ABC, New South Wales’ Mid North Coast region experienced a storm that resembled a ‘mini-cyclone’, resulting in several damaged homes, mass power outages and many calls for help to the state’s emergency services.
Tickets for Port Macquire’s Red Hot Summer tour date remain eligible for the rescheduled date, with refunds available for those unable to attend. Before the cancellation, Westport Park was due to host Red Hot Summer artists Paul Kelly, Missy Higgins and former Powderfinger frontman Bernard Fanning, as well as Ian Moss, Troy Cassar-Daley, Vika & Linda and Mark Seymour from Hunters & Collectors.
Red Hot Summer was one of several music events canceled due to extreme weather in recent weeks. At the end of last month, the Auckland edition of the Laneway Festival was scrapped due to record rain which made it “no longer safe to continue,” organizers said in a statement. A day earlier, Elton John’s scheduled performance in the same city as part of his ‘Farewell Yellow Brick Road’ tour was also canceled just minutes before the start time due to the rain.
Last year, Hopkins Creek, This That, When We Were Young and Strawberry Fields were among the Australian festivals to be canceled or postponed due to adverse weather conditions, while Splendor In The Grass’ first-day main stage shows were also canceled due to weather-related damage to the festival site.