Sir Rod Stewart says he is devastated to have to cancel a series of US concerts, blaming lingering flu for the decision.

It affects four shows in Nevada, along with a further two in California, which he plans to reschedule.

They were due to take place over the next eight days.

“So sorry my friends. I’m devastated and sincerely apologise for any inconvenience to my fans. I’ll be back on stage and will see you soon,” he wrote in a message on Instagram.

Sir Rod, 80, has been struggling to recover from flu and this week had already cancelled two concerts at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas.

On Wednesday, he disclosed that his doctor had “ordered” him to take “a bit more rest”.

The star is in the midst of his epic One Last Time Tour.

Sir Rod, who was recently put on vocal rest, is due to play the legends slot at Glastonbury later this month.

In May, he was presented with a lifetime achievement award at the American Music Awards (AMAs).

In a sign of how seriously the singer takes his health, last month he was also spotted in Italy attempting to avoid conversations to preserve his voice.

He wore a message attached to a lanyard which read: “Sorry. Cannot talk. Having vocal rest.”

In 2024, he promised he would not retire but confirmed his 2025 European and North American shows would bring an end to his “large-scale world tours”.

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The performer, best known for songs including Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?, Every Beat Of My Heart, and Maggie May, said he plans to focus on more intimate venues instead.

Sir Rod has faced other health challenges in the past.

In May 2000, he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and had surgery. In 2017, he underwent successful treatment for prostate cancer.

More often than not, the inclusion of women in an action film is shaped by the male gaze, the tropes, the stereotypical backstory and/or the unnecessary physique-revealing scenes connected to it.

“That’s a pet peeve of mine,” director Len Wiseman tells Sky News in an interview for his new John Wick spin-off starring Ana de Armas.

“I think a lot of times you see it’s overly sexualized or there’s not a realism to it, and it is important to me that [this was] approached from a female [perspective] that can be labelled: ‘A woman is strong to begin with’. I think there can be some kind of pandering in certain ways that I think is too far.”

Wiseman started his career with the female-led action film franchise Underworld starring his former partner Kate Beckinsale before directing Die Hard 4.0, Total Recall and Sleepy Hollow.

From The World Of John Wick: Ballerina serves as a spin-off to the John Wick films and is set between the events of the third and fourth movies.

It follows a young trainee assassin who looks to be the next world-renowned assassin in the film universe.

“We never wanted to go as far as Eve looking like we were doing a female John Wick. Eve is Eve and is a woman… and it’s a woman in a man’s world,” says de Armas.

“That phrase ‘fight like a girl’, we wanted that to come across as something really empowering and really pull from there. That is a motivation for her. That has been said before in a derogatory way or as something diminishing.”

Wiseman and de Armas both say that while they wanted Eve to be strong, they also wanted her to feel every moment of the battle. If there are choreographed fight scenes or flashy action moves, she feels them.

“I wanted her to struggle,” explains de Armas, detailing how she consistently asked for her to look more dishevelled as the film progresses.

“It didn’t come from a place of I need to prove myself, I don’t need to prove myself to anybody, but I wanted to do that from the moment we started talking about the script, we even brought on board a female writer, because it was important for me to have that.”

De Armas, similar to her soon-to-be co-star Tom Cruise, relished in undertaking the more difficult stunts and wore the bruises and marks from them like badges of honour.

The actress would even send photos of the markings the following day to Wiseman proudly as she jokes: “I just wanted to keep him posted, you know, on how my body was at the end of the day.”

The film was shot practically, with the explosions and countless action surprises for film fans happening on set repeatedly.

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When asked about her toughest stunt to execute, without hesitation, she mentions a scene which included prop grenades.

“All the debris and everything that was flying with those grenades were real, so most of the dust and the little things flying were getting in my eyes, and I just could not open my eyes during the scene. So in between takes, the medics were like just rinsing my eyes with some water.”

With a film set around changing the meaning of ‘fight like a girl’, de Armas says she has a clear definition of it now: “Be yourself and make people gravitate around you and your rules. You make your own rules.”

From The World Of John Wick: Ballerina is in cinemas now.

Denim chaps and hot pants aren’t most people’s go-to outfit for standing outside on a drizzly June day in London but Beyonce fans with tickets to her Cowboy Carter tour joked they were enjoying their very own “rain-aissance”.

Referencing the singer’s 7th studio album, for Wilfy – originally from Brazil – the weather wasn’t going to dampen his spirits.

“We came to rock and this time I’m going to see her 5 times, so on Saturday I’ll be back. It’s Beyonce – this is a rain-aissance!”

Her album Cowboy Carter may be responsible for the plethora of country-themed outfits, but this is not the star’s first rodeo in terms of touring.

As an artist who’s been making music for over 25 years, this time around her 31 international shows are reportedly projected to make around £240m.

For established artists, with their income from touring often surpassing revenue from streaming or sales nowadays, the price point of tickets can be a tricky line to tread – just ask Oasis.

Figuring out how best to cover the costs of the massive touring infrastructure involved, make a profit whilst at the same time ensuring fans don’t feel ripped off isn’t easy to get right.

From giant trucks to a mechanical bull, Beyonce fans are promised plenty of bang for their buck and at almost three hours long, it is her longest show yet.

“I love this country album, it’s so good,” said Emily from Manchester. “I feel like it’s going to be an amazing show.”

Enon from Israel explained he’d taken a five-hour flight and spent a day ripping and sewing his cowboy-inspired tasselled denim crop top because “Beyonce is one of a kind, she changed my life, she made me who I am, and this is our little Met Gala”.

While there is quite a bit of pressure on the global superstar to deliver the goods, one man who knows more than most about how that feels is her dad, Dr Mathew Knowles, who was her manager for many years.

“It takes a lot to be a good manager,” he says, thoughtfully reflecting on that time, “but it takes even more to be a great one.”

From Destiny’s Child up until 2011, he worked alongside his daughter for some of her biggest hits.

“I’m one of the best managers ever,” he says in all seriousness.

While he has a ticket to see her perform in London, he is already in town to teach students at the London College of Contemporary Music where Sky News caught up with him.

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Here also to help find a new talent deserving of a music scholarship in his name. The candidate, he explained, has to be “a student who’s shown this real capacity, commitment and passion for the music industry”.

A stickler for young talent putting the practice in, he says: “Some artists aren’t ready to tour… from a creative standpoint and a performance standpoint [you need to] put in 10,000 hours.”

When her UK tour tickets went on sale, fans reported prices seemed to stay static, suggesting “dynamic pricing” wasn’t used to cash in on demand.

On Oasis’ headline-making ticket price row, Dr Knowles said: “I had to learn the value as a manager of understanding where each and every ticket goes.

“You know, it’s sad that often the artist gets the black eye when in fact the manager should be more involved…sometimes the artist doesn’t even know about it until they hear these complaints.”

Of course, you’ll hear few complaints from those with a ticket to see Beyonce on the UK leg of her world tour.

Music-wise Milton from Albania says he is confident his idol will “bring everyone together”.

But, he said, he wasn’t so sure about whether he’d need carrying out afterwards.

“When I see her I may die – a heart attack at a Beyonce concert? It would be worth it. What a way to go.”