Why Rod Stewart Canceled Minnesota State Fair Performance – What To Do If You Have Tickets

For the second year in a row, a Minnesota State Fair Grandstand headliner canceled a show in the weeks before the fair kicks off.

Last year, Steve Miller abruptly canceled his appearance at the Minnesota State Fair and the rest of his upcoming dates in late July, citing "The combination of extreme heat, unpredictable flooding, tornadoes, hurricanes, and massive forest fires make these risks for you our audience, the band and crew" for the sudden cancelation.

This year, Sir Rod Stewart canceled his upcoming Minnesota State Fair tour stop and other upcoming tour dates even closer to the start of the fair, with the reason being health-related.

Why did Rod Stewart cancel his Minnesota State Fair show?

In a statement the Minnesota State Fair passed along from Stewart's team, the singer has just recently undergone a "routine coronary stent procedure".

READ MORE: The New Rides, Attractions, And Other Additions For The 2026 Minnesota State Fair

On the advice of his doctors, Stewart was advised to take a few weeks to recuperate from the procedure, which is what he is doing.

To allow for time to recover, all of his upcoming concert dates, including the September 1 show at the Minnesota State Fair, have been canceled.

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In response to this, the Minnesota State Fair has suspended ticket sales and will be issuing refunds to people that already have tickets

How do you get a refund if you bought tickets to the show?

If you have tickets to the Rod Stewart Minnesota State Fair Grandstand concert, how you get a refund will depend on how you purchased your tickets.

If you bought tickets with a credit card from Etix or the State Fair Ticket Office: You will receive an automatic refund to the credit card used to make the ticket purchase in the coming days.

If you bought tickets with cash or check: Tickets should be returned via mail along with buyer contact information to receive a refund. You should mail the tickets and buyer information to:

Minnesota State Fair Ticket Office

1265 Snelling Ave. N.

St. Paul, MN 55108

If you bought tickets through a third-party reseller or on the secondhand market: The fair says neither they nor Etix can help with processing refunds. You'll have to work with the reseller you bought the tickets from.

Will there be a replacement show for the canceled Rod Stewart Grandstand date?

Last year, the fair was able to line up Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates fame as a replacement act when Steve Miller canceled.

Minnesota State Fair officials haven't yet shared what their plans are for this year's cancelation of the Rod Stewart show on September 1, with the fair's organizers saying in a statement that more information is yet to come.

It is worth noting that Richard Marx was on the billing for that night as an opening act for Stewart.

It is possible they move Marx to the headliner and find a new opener, leave Marx as the opener and find a new headliner, or come up with a completely new show that doesn't involve Marx at all.