Volbeat talk abandoned Belfast show: 'We had no choice'

The Danish-American rockers walked off stage during opening number ‘Pelvis On Fire’ at Belfast Ulster Hall on Thursday 3rd October. Despite returning to the stage for a second attempt several minutes later, Volbeat exited once again and cancelled the show altogether. 

Afterwards they expressed their “heartfelt apologies” to fans and blamed the abrupt abandonment on “multiple technical issues” and frontman Michael Poulsen’s “throat issues.” 

Many fans, however, expressed their disappointment at the cancellation on social media. 

Now, in a fresh interview with France’s Loud TV, guitarist Rob Caggiano has shed more light on the abandoned gig and explained Poulsen “didn’t lose his voice.” 

“The problem was we had technical issues. If he had continued singing with those technical issues, he would have blown his voice out — that's the problem," Caggiano explained (via Blabbermouth). 

"And then we would have been cancelling other shows, which would have been a nightmare; that would have been a real nightmare. Obviously, it sucked, but I really don't think this situation is unique to Volbeat. 

“I mean, it happens. It was beyond our control. Obviously, it sucks. We love Ireland. We wanna go back and make that right. But at that given time, we had no choice, really - we had no choice."

Former Anthrax axeman Caggiano continued: "The crazy thing is the next show, in Dublin, I had the crazy sound in my ear. It was absolutely terrible. But I continued the show. I wasn't singing. If I was singing, it would have been very bad. 

“So I feel his pain — I understand what he was going through and what happened. And to make it even more funny, the Belfast show, the sound for me in my ears was probably the best it's been in the last year and a half. I was so excited to play the show, and then, 30 seconds (later) we stopped."

Asked if they can understand their fans’ frustrations due to the nature of the cancellation, drummer Jon Larsen said: "Of course. It's a natural thing. People, of course, get frustrated and get upset. They maybe have been looking forward to the show for a couple of months, or whatever, and wanna see the band play, and then, all of a sudden, the band can't play. So, of course, we get it. And they're disappointed. 

“We've all probably gone to shows when we were kids where the band cancelled an hour before, or the day before. You do get bummed out, like, 'Ah, really? Why?' But it happens. I mean, whole tours get cancelled. It's not like this is the first time in music history that a band has cancelled a show. Unfortunately, sometimes it happens. And we are just as sad and upset as everybody else. But it was, like Rob said, beyond our control."

Volbeat also cancelled their Bristol show six days before Belfast due to illness.