Lionel Richie Cuts Concert Short Due to Illness

left his fans concerned after he was forced to bring the first concert of his new tour to a halt after falling ill mid-performance on Wednesday.

The 77-year-old hitmaker was performing at the Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul, , as the start of his joint Sing A Song All Night Long tour with Earth, Wind & Fire when he announced an unusual intermission after a performance of Three Times A Lady from his piano, according to Minnesota's Bring Me The News.

Richie's band reportedly also left the stage minutes later, but more than 30 minutes after he cut off the show, a band member returned to announce that he wouldn't be able to return because he was feeling ill.

On social media, fans who attended the show shared their concerns and revealed that the singer had signaled throughout the performance that he wasn't feeling well. 

Videos of him performing showed the singer appearing to sway uncontrollably during the concert, and he reportedly told the crowd that he was feeling 'dizzy' while performing the second-to-last tune of his abbreviated show, Dancing On The Ceiling.

Richie was also reportedly unable to get through the song without sitting down multiple times, before performing what ended up being his last song of the evening while sitting on his piano bench.

A fan who attended the concert told the publication that Richie 'said he has been in this business long enough, if you feel dizzy you sit down! And if you don’t feel right, you sit down!' 

The first half of the concert featured a performance from Earth, Wind & Fire, while Richie took the stage for what would have been the second half of the evening. 

The music icons are currently scheduled to visit 26 cities through August 14.