Robbie Williams’ one-off Australian concert is AXED as government calls for all large gatherings to be cancelled amid coronavirus pandemic
Robbie Williams traveled from the UK to Australia to perform at Saturday’s inaugural World Tour Melbourne.
The English singer, 46, was forced to cancel his appearance at the one-off concert after the Australian Government urged for all large gatherings with more than 500 people to be cancelled.
The highly-anticipated performance at Albert Park’s Lakeside Stadium was meant to coincide with the Australian Grand Prix, which was also cancelled on Friday.
Cancelled: Robbie Williams’ (pictured) one-off Australian concert at Australian Grand Prix -set for Saturday- was AXED on Friday as the government calls for all large gatherings to be cancelled amid coronavirus pandemic
World Tour Melbourne and live entertainment company TEG-Dainty shared a statement regarding the cancellation, announcing they would be issuing full refunds for all ticket holders.
The statement read: ‘Following on from the decision of Formula 1 and the FIA, with the support of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation (AGPC) to cancel all Formula 1 activity for the Australian Grand Prix.’
The announcement then clarified that the cancellation would also include the Australian Grand Prix’ World Tour show on Saturday March 14 with Robbie Williams.
The concert would have been located inside Lakeside Stadium within the Grand Prix race track at Albert Park.
‘We appreciate that this is very disappointing news for the fans due to attend the show and all ticket holders will receive a full refund and will be contacted by Ticketek shortly,’ the statement said.
Axed: The English singer, 46, was forced to call off his one-off concert after the Australian Government urged for all mass gatherings with more than 500 people to be cancelled
Let me entertain you! On Thursday, Robbie was already taking health precautions nseriously as he greeted fans with his elbows at a Formula 1 media call in Melbourne
On Thursday, Robbie was already taking health precautions seriously as he greeted fans with his elbows at a Formula 1 media call.
Despite keeping his distance, the Angels hit-maker happily chatted with fans at Lakeside Stadium, just one day before the cancellation was announced.
He made no distinction between fans and other celebrities, also greeting Australian F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo with his elbow.
No special treatment! Robbie made no distinction between fans and other celebrities, as he also chose to greet Australian F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo with his elbow
Australia has gone into coronavirus lockdown with the nation’s chief medical officer advising all public gatherings of more than 500 people be cancelled.
Other concerts, sports matches, festivals, plays and every other mass gathering could be cancelled in a drastic push to reduce the risk of the pandemic spreading.
Meanwhile, the number of cases nationwide has surged to 194 as of Friday afternoon – including a sharp spike of 14 new cases in New South Wales, most from overseas.
Statistics: As of March 13, the total number of Australians diagnosed with the virus is now 194, including three deaths