Fans at the XFinity Theatre at Hartford were left baffled when the rockers abandoned the gig after just five songs and walked off stage.

They later reappeared, and frontman Corey Taylor revealed Venturella, who replaced late bandmember Paul Gray in the line-up, had fallen sick and been taken to hospital.

He told the audience, "I'm gonna let you know what's going on right now. I'm sorry to say that our bass player, Alex, had... Something happened. I'm not sure what happened. He's been put into an ambulance and he's going to the hospital right now as we speak. But I want you all to make f**king noise for him. Send him some f**king love. Now, we had a choice to come back out here. We've had to modify some s**t, but we're gonna keep on playing for you. It's what we want, it's what Alex would f**king want."

The band then continued the rest of the show without Venturella. No further details about his condition had been released as WENN went to press.