Ray Barton took his wife Pat out on the night of their 14th wedding anniversary for a special treat to watch country singer Glen Campbell.
The 57-year-old engineer and his wife, Pat, made the 45-minute journey from Kawerau to Rotorua's Energy Events Centre and paid $95 each to hear hitssuch as Rhinestone Cowboy and Wichita Lineman live.
Just one song in, it became clear it would be a night to remember - for all the wrong reasons.
"He sang his first song and then said, 'Sorry, I've got laryngitis'," said Mr Barton.
"He then tried to sing a second song but we got up and left at the start of the third - with a couple of hundred other people.
"The concert should not have gone ahead. Not only could Glen not sing, the band and the rest of the family did not know what the heck was going on with the rest of the show."
Mr Thompson said the promoters should have known he was ill and cancelled the concert.
Herald calls to Ticketmasters and a spokeswoman for Andrew McManus Events, the promoter for the concert, went unanswered yesterday.
His Wellington concert, which was to be held at the Michael Fowler Centre last night, was cancelled because of the singer's illness.
A Ticketek spokesman said all tickets sold to last night's show would be refunded but it remains unclear whether the Rotorua concert-goers would get their money back.
Before Glen Campbell left New Zealand for Brisbane, One News asked him whether it was likely people would get refunds.
"It is a good question," he said. "I don't know 'cause my daughters performed, everybody else did and I did too. [Although] I didn't sing."
