Brand cancels gig at last minute

Russell Brand left hundreds of fans disappointed by cancelling a gig 20 minutes before it was due to start - blaming a car breakdown.

However, many of the 2,000 fans who had hoped to see him in St David's Hall in Cardiff on Sunday said they didn’t believe his excuse.

Anne-Leah Nay-Jones, 25, told the: 'I can't imagine that with all his money Russell Brand has a clapped-out maroon Ford Fiesta.'

Suzanne Langrish, 40 , added: ‘You wonder if it's a complete fabrication that he broke down on the way because it was such late notice he would have been struggling to make it from London on time anyway.'

In a statement Brand said apologised, saying: ‘The weather was awful, the traffic abysmal, and the car overheated. And West Ham lost - it's one of the worst days of my life.’

And he told disappointed fans: ‘If you want a refund, contact the theatre - but we will reschedule the show for the summer, and it'll be amazing and I'll perform any penance necessary; even now I’m having a dragon tattooed on my guilty ballbags.’

Brand's promoter only told St David's Hall about the breakdown at 7.20pm last night. After negotiations had taken place, the announcement was made to the crowd at 7.40pm just 20 minutes before warm-up act Trevor Lock was due on stage.

The venue's manager Gareth Griffiths said the postponement was 'the latest cancellation notification I have had in 21 years here'.

A spokeswoman added: ‘I think they were hoping that they could have got him here, maybe have a late start, but I think it became increasingly obvious that was not going to happen.

‘Occasionally people do turn up very late on stage. It's not unheard of. But when his managers said he was having transport problems, it became more and more obvious that there was not going to be a solution to it.’

The venue said only five per cent of the 2,000 ticket-holders had demanded refunds for the £16.50 tickets.

Published: 6 Mar 2007