Louis Tomlinson fans forced to flee 'traumatic' concert as hailstones leave several hospitalised

It always sucks when an artist you're desperate to see live has to cancel a gig last minute, but we reckon 'golf-ball sized hail' is a valid reason for pulling the plug.

This is precisely what happened at a Louis Tomlinson concert at the Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre in Colorado last night (21 June), as fans were forced to seek shelter as the massive hailstones began to plummet form the sky onto the revellers below. Ouch.

The terrifying phenomenon saw seven people taken to hospital with injuries.

West Metro Fire Rescue said in a statement: "A total of 80 to 90 people treated on scene. Injuries include cuts and broken bones."

Concert-goers took to social media to criticise the venue for not postponing the concert earlier given the risk of severe weather.

Twitter / @ProfanityNewz

One wrote: "Tonight was the scariest night of my life. It started pelting people with hail at Red Rocks and my sister and I luckily found shelter under a sign. I am bleeding and have huge bumps on my head from the hail. Hoping everyone made it out safely."

Another posted: "Scariest hail storm I’ve ever been caught in. This show should have been cancelled an hour ago."

A third person tweeted out an image of a chunk of hail, accompanied by the caption: "My dad took this right after I was safe backstage. It was straight out of a horror movie."

A final fan wrote: "My head has bumps, I got welts, bruises and bleeding all over my body, I can barely use my hand and I can’t sleep from pain. Most traumatic experience ever."

Twitter/@annabellexnh

In a statement after the incident, Louis Tomlinson wrote: "Devastated about the show tonight, hope everyone's ok, I'll be back! Even though we didn't play the show I felt all of your passion! Sending you all love!"

The venue posted: "Tonight's show has officially been postponed. Please be safe exiting the amphitheatre - we'll have more information for ticket holders soon."

'Golfball-sized' is in fact a recognised way of categorising hailstones, with categories ranging from the unpleasant but harmless 'pea-sized' to the gigantic 'softball-sized'.

According to the US National Weather Service chart on hail threats, golf-ball sized stones are classed as either 'large' or 'very large' depending on whether golf-ball sized stones are the larger or smaller stones in a storm. They are typically defined as being around 1 3/4 inches in diameter.

According to the National Severe Storms Laboratory, hailstones of this size can fall at speeds of up to 40mph, making them absolutely dangerous to people who are caught out in the storm.

Tyla has contacted the Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre for a comment.