Hong Kong fans deprived of a show by Canadian band's change of plan

Quebecois rock band Simple Plan will not be gracing the AsiaWorld-Expo stage tonight as planned. In fact, they are cancelling concert dates for the next two weeks; so those bound for the Summer Sonic music festival in Japan - where the band was part of the line-up - won't fare any better than those with tickets to this evening's show. The Hong Kong Ticketing box office will be issuing cash refunds starting on Thursday until September 17, upon presentation of the concert tickets.

The band issued this heartfelt statement to its fans in Asia: 'Having been advised by multiple doctors that playing shows right now would run the risk of damaging Pierre's [Bouvier, lead vocals] voice permanently, we felt we had no choice.

'The good news is that the doctors think that with the proper vocal rest, Pierre will make a full recovery and be able to resume playing shows in about two weeks.

'It truly breaks our hearts to not be able to play for all our fans who had been looking forward to our shows... We will do everything in our power to make it up to them and come back as soon as possible.'

With upcoming concerts by Friendly Fires, Doobie Brothers, Westlife, Linkin Park and others, concert-goers in the city are by no means left high and dry this summer by Simple Plan's unfortunate no-show.