Entertainment

Little Mix cancel Belfast gigs due to illness

Little Mix fans were left distraught to find out their concert had been cancelled as they were ready to enter the SSE Arena. Eight-year-old Clodagh Hill had been given tickets for her birthday and was comforted by her mum Ellen Hill
Little Mix fans were left distraught to find out their concert had been cancelled as they were ready to enter the SSE Arena. Eight-year-old Clodagh Hill had been given tickets for her birthday and was comforted by her mum Ellen Hill Little Mix fans were left distraught to find out their concert had been cancelled as they were ready to enter the SSE Arena. Eight-year-old Clodagh Hill had been given tickets for her birthday and was comforted by her mum Ellen Hill

LITTLE Mix have cancelled two Belfast gigs due to illness.

The girl band were due to play a matinee and evening show at the SSE arena in Belfast on Thursday.

A statement from Aiken Promotions said that band member Jesy was "unwell and unable to perform".

The cancellation announcement came just minutes after the doors opened for the afternoon performance.

Fans have been advised to hold on to their tickets, with further announcements on a potential rescheduled gig expected later today.

The girl band had played the 3Arena in Dublin on Wednesday night, with reports that Jesy had broken down on stage.

Disappointed fans and their mums:

This follows a similiar upset at the SSE Arena last October when One Direction cancelled a gig after Liam Payne fell ill.

Thousands of One Direction fans were left disappointed when the band cancelled their Belfast show at 9pm - almost three hours after fans had arrived for the highly anticipated concert.

Many highlighted that just hours before the matinee had been due to begin, the girl group's social media account was retweeting photographs of fans waiting outside the venue on social media.

The band, which also includes Perrie Edwards, Jade Thirlwall and Leigh-Anne Pinnock, had asked fans to "get weird" - the name of their tour.

Singer Perrie had also tweeted: "Hey, how ya doin Belfast? Can we get #getweirdtourbelfast trending? Send us your pics".

The tweet was later deleted.

Olivia Foley from Strabane was among the many fans who had travelled hundreds of miles to see Little Mix perform and was outraged at the last minute nature of the announcement.

"I'm here with my girls, they're only three and seven, they don't understand what's going on," she said.

"We came down to Belfast and booked into the Premier Inn to make a day of it.

"We don't know what to do now, whether to go to the hotel and see if we can get our money back and just head home or stay up in Belfast in case it's rescheduled until tomorrow.

"The girls were so excited about it, it's a disgrace that we weren't told until so late. Or why couldn't the other girls go on stage and perform without Jesy."

Laura McBrien travelled with her two daughters Jessica (11) and Ella (8) from Enniskillen after the girls received the tickets as Christmas presents.

"We came up early to Belfast before the concert and started to queue up about 12.40pm," she said.

"I started to wonder that the doors weren't opening and then someone came out and announced it was going ahead.

"There were tears from Ella, it's their first concert so to say they're disappointed in an understatement.

"I've had to take the day off so we'll have to wait and see if and when it will be rescheduled for and see if we can go then."

Michaela Oats, Danielle Rodgers and daughter Mia were also left dismayed by the last minute cancellation.

"Mia had been really looking forward to the concert, she had got the tickets from Santa," said Danielle.

"It's very annoying and disappointing, we'll just have to wait now and see what happens."

It's not the first time Jesy has had to cancel a show due to illness.

Just last year, she was forced to pull out of a live performance during a tour of Japan and recently she suffered a broken wrist live on stage.

Little Mix are due to perform in Belfast again on April 19.