British rock legend Rod Stewart was forced to momentarily halt a performance to take puffs of oxygen from a tank during a show in Utah over the weekend, according to reports by NBC News, Deadline and People Magazine.
Footage from the concert, first shared by TMZ, shows the 81-year-old mid-performance at the Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre in West Valley City, near Salt Lake City, on Friday night, clinging to surfaces for support before motioning to the backstage crew to bring over an oxygen cannister.
Stewart can be seen placing a mask over his face and taking several deep breaths, at times stumbling backwards slightly, appearing to struggle to keep himself upright. Moments later, he walks downstage, picks up the microphone and says, “The show must go on….I nearly f–king fainted up here,” adding amid a round of cheers and applause from the crowd that he would sit down for the next song.
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The incident occurred shortly after the Grammy Award winner rescheduled several shows at his Caesars Palace residency in Las Vegas in May and this month postponed two performances at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado due to vocal cord damage, the Denver Post reported.
“Evaluation revealed significant inflammation and strain of the vocal folds, making it impossible for him to safely perform without the risk of further injury and potential long-term damage to his voice,” a statement from a spokesperson at Live Nation said.
“Rod is deeply disappointed and sincerely apologizes to his fans for this inconvenience. He looks forward to returning to the stage as soon as he is medically cleared.”
Days earlier, on June 13, he cancelled a San Diego show 45 minutes before he was due on stage, citing an upper respiratory infection and laryngitis, according to another Live Nation statement published in the San Diego Union Tribune.
“He traveled to the venue and made every effort to perform,” the statement read. “But on the advice of his doctors and following a diagnosis of an acute upper respiratory infection that has resulted in laryngitis, he is unable to take to the stage this evening.”
Despite cancelling several shows due to health issues, Stewart posted last week that he was flying to Boston with two of his sons to watch Scotland play in the men’s FIFA World Cup.
Stewart is currently on his One Last Time Tour, a farewell tour across North America.
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