MUSIC fans at the Big Summer Session concert on Saturday were plunged into darkness for more than 90 minutes after a power failure.

The gig, one of two events held at the County Ground at the weekend, attracted more than 4,000 spectators but the generator failed during Atomic Kitten’s set at 8.15pm, causing panic backstage and uncertainty among fans over whether or not the show would continue.

With only a handful of tannoy announcements, many decided to call it a night before Blue, Five and Peter Andre had even performed.

By 9.45pm, and clearly fed up of waiting, boyband Blue took to the stage in total darkness with no microphones, and attempted to entertain their fans by singing through megaphones.

The power returned five minutes later much to the delight of loyal fans remaining in the ground, but Blue were forced to cut their set short, despite going down a storm.

Five also proved popular, performing some of their biggest hits – including When The Lights Go Out.

But by the time headliner Peter Andre appeared on stage, many fans had left after spending more than six hours in the rain. He too appeared to cut his set short, so fans did not have to wait long to see him perform his biggest hit, Mysterious Girl. Peter even called members of the audience to join him on stage for the song.

There were mixed feelings among fans as they left the County Ground after the event.

Sophie Walsh, 25, of Pewsham, said: “I thought the acts were really good – especially Five, Blue and 911, they really managed to get the crowd going – but it was just a shame about the power cut. Nobody really knew what to do, whether to stay and wait, or just leave as time was getting on. By the time Peter Andre came on stage, the atmosphere had died, but it was still a good night.”

Saturday night’s show was the second of two concerts held over the weekend, with Friday night’s event headlined by Katy B.

The concerts, which had been blighted by problems since they were first announced back in May, were close to being called off last week due to low ticket sales.

They were only able to go ahead thanks to Swindon Town Football Club bosses paying in thousands of pounds of their own money. Many fans have since contacted the Adver about the poor organisation and lack of correspondence between organisers and ticket holders.

Laura Mulcock, from Cricklade, said: “What a poorly organised and very badly managed event the concert was. They refused to offer assistance to people at the front who were suffering signs of hypothermia, but they very keenly gave the security guards bottles of water at the start of the concert to hand out.”

Another fan, Beverley Rawlings, said: “People who had paid premium prices for tickets through Ticketmaster were totally ripped off. We paid £245 for five tickets and were upgraded to premium seats, only to be sat with the people who had paid £10 and even £5. We paid £200 over the odds and I am actively seeking a refund through whatever channel I can find.”

Another unhappy fan, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “What a shambles. This was not a good showcase for the County Ground’s future events as my friends and I would not return, nor the people I spoke to on the way home who had travelled from outside Swindon.”

The director of Swindon PA Hire, Shaun Skinner, said: “We sent an engineer to help with the generator, which I believe had overheated. It needed someone to get into the generator and reset it. “For event of that size you would often have two generators but there was only one, which was why there was such a delay.

“We were pleased to be able to help out and it was a real shame there were so many problems.”

Despite attempts, the Adver was unable to get a response from the promoters yesterday.

The Big Summer Session official Twitter page said: “Management accept that there have been issues, and we ask you to direct your messages to info@thebigsummersession.co.uk, and they will reply.”