He is best-known for romantic numbers such as Stars and A New Flame, but Simply Red frontman Mick Hucknall left fans feeling blue after a show in Brighton.

Hucknall walked off stage well before the scheduled end of his performance, telling the crowd: "What you put in is what you get out."

Despite a standing ovation, he refused to return for an encore.Fans, who had travelled from as far as Holland and Germany for the gig, then booed and hissed when the house lights came on early.

Sarah Slade, of Westbourne Villas, Hove, paid £32.50 for a ticket and went with her sister Laura and four friends after enjoying a "brilliant" performance from the band at a previous show.

She said: "We just don't know what happened. He hadn't sung his latest single or any of the recent top 10 hits.

"Even his crew seemed to think he would come back out because we were in the dark so long before the house lights came up.

"When I went on Friday night it was brilliant and he played for a full two hours, which is why I decided to go again and take some friends.On Tuesday we were all left seeing red.

"The tickets were extortionate and whatever happened someone from the crew should have told the audience why the show was cut short."

Other concert-goers complained about the lack of an encore at the Brighton gig in the guestbook on Simply Red's official website.

One said: "I wasn't at the Brighton concert and I am glad. I have been to concerts where the artist left the stage without returning for an encore and I was gutted. I felt as if the audience had been irrelevant."

Wendy Walton, marketing manager for the Brighton Centre, said: "Mick Hucknall seemed in a good mood before he went out - he was playing football in the corridor in the afternoon.

"As far as we are concerned, he did finish the show. It is up to the performers whether or not they do an encore, although I admit most usually do give one."

The Friday night concert was a sell-out, with more than 5,000 people enjoying the band, but Tuesday night's performance saw an audience of only around 3,400 turn out.

Ms Walton said: "The atmosphere might not have been as good on Wednesday if the band felt they weren't getting as good a reaction from the audience. But Simply Red were good value for money.

"They were on stage for more than an hour."

Simply Red's management refused to comment to the Argus.

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