Walter Tunis of the Lexington Herald-Leader is reporting that AEROSMITH cancelled their performance Tuesday night (March 7) at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky with just over two hours to go before showtime, leaving some 9,000 ticket holders with an unexpectedly free evening.

The reason: illness on the part of singer Steven Tyler. The performance will not be rescheduled. Tickets refunds, which began tonight at the Rupp box office, will be available at point of purchase.

While the nature of Tyler's illness was not disclosed, AEROSMITH also called off their last scheduled concert (a Sunday show in Pensacola, Fla.) because the singer was unable to perform. But as of Tuesday morning, all signs were a go that the Rupp outing would proceed.

"We had an 11 a.m. phone call telling us he (Tyler) was fine," said Carl Hall, director of arena management at Rupp. "Everybody breathed a sign of relief. Then the sigh became a gasp. The band was flying here, they were in the air, when whatever was going wrong with Steve Tyler messed up again."

So at 5:15 p.m. today, roughly 15 minutes before the band's scheduled arrival time in Lexington, the concert was called off. The AEROSMITH members flew back to their home base of Boston.

Opening act CHEAP TRICK was already at Rupp when the cancellation was made.

"Everything was done," Hall said of show preparations. "The road crew was eating dinner when we found out."

Coincidentally, this isn't the first time AEROSMITH bailed on a Rupp show due to Tyler's ill health. The band also cancelled a November 2001 performance less than 48 hours before showtime.