An outdoor concert in Connecticut featuring country star Jason Aldean was cut short after the singer experienced a heat stroke on stage, his representative said on July 16.
Mr. Aldean was performing at the Xfinity Theatre in Hartford when he suddenly rushed offstage in the middle of a song, forcing the show to end early.
In a statement on social media, the amphitheater said Mr. Aldean’s show would be rescheduled to an undetermined date, noting concertgoers should pay attention to its social media channels for updates.
“We appreciate your patience as we work on rescheduling a new date, as well as the outpouring of well wishes for Jason,” Xfinity Theatre posted on Twitter, adding a representative for the singer “has confirmed he is now doing well after experiencing heat stroke during last night’s performance.”
In a video posted to his Instagram Story on July 16, Mr. Aldean apologized for abruptly leaving the show and thanked everyone who checked in on him after hearing about what happened to him at Saturday night’s event.
“I’m doing fine,” Mr. Aldean said. “I think it was a combination of dehydration and just heat exhaustion. So, I hear a lot of stuff going around—heat stroke and all this stuff. I don’t think it was quite that serious.”
“It was pretty intense last night at the show, and anybody who was at the show knows how hot it was,” he continued. “I knew it was coming. I was trying to get through as much of the show as I could and eventually, it was just like, I knew it wasn’t going to happen and I was trying to just get off stage and figure out what was going on.”
A fan-captured video posted to social media shows Mr. Aldean visibly struggling while singing his hit song, “Crazy Town,” before running offstage. In the clip, the musician takes a step back from the mic in what appears to be him wiping away sweat before continuing his song. But a short moment after coming back, he suddenly turns around and runs offstage.
“It was bad enough just standing in the pit. I can’t imagine performing in jeans, boots, and hat under all those lights in that humidity with no breeze,” a concertgoer wrote in the caption of the 10-second video.
According to AccuWeather, the temperature in Hartford reached the mid-to-high 80 degrees Fahrenheit on July 15.
“We’ll come back and make it up to you,” Mr. Aldean promised in his Instagram video, adding it was not how he wanted the first show of his “Highway Desperado Tour” to end.
Extreme Weather Awareness
The incident comes as a dangerous heatwave is continuing to affect the southern part of the United States, with temperatures expected to exceed 110 degrees Fahrenheit in multiple places this week.
The most serious heat-related illness is heat stroke, which occurs when the body becomes incapable of controlling its temperature.
In such a situation, the body’s temperature will keep rising rapidly, the sweating mechanism will fail, and the body becomes unable to cool down. A heat stroke can result in death or permanent disability.
Heat exhaustion is another major illness caused by exposure to excessive heat. It is the body’s response to an excess loss of water and salt. The condition usually affects elderly people, those working in a hot environment, and people with high blood pressure.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has published a list of heat-related illness symptoms as well as what people can do immediately to deal with it.