It had been hoped that more than 6,000 people would attend the event, but poor ticket sales forced its cancellation.

Tribute acts Abba Gold, Killer Queen, and Totally Take That had been due to appear at the three-day event alongside tributes to Robbie Williams and Peter Kay, the National Symphony Orchestra and the Opera Babes.

The concert, hosted by New Dawn Events, had been set to take place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings with tickets priced up to £55.

But racecourse bosses say they "became concerned" when New Dawn owner Brian Davies failed to pay a deposit to hire the venue, which costs £5,000 a night. Racecourse bosses reached "a joint decision" with Mr Davies to cancel the gigs.

Mr Davies had previously claimed proceeds would go to Leukaemia Research.

In total, only around 50 tickets were sold.

The firm has lost £6,000 because it had already paid for advertising and deposits to secure some of the acts.

"Ticket sales were just absolutely dead. We were expecting a couple of thousand people to turn up each day but it's just been hopeless," said Mr Davies, who is based in Scotland.

"Everyone will get a refund.

"At the moment I'm doing the accounts and I haven't had anyone contact me for their money back yet.

"We secured the venue at the last minute and I didn't pay the deposit because ticket sales were looking bad and I didn't want to lose more money."

This is the first time Mr Davies has organised a concert in the Exeter area and he thought the racecourse would be the perfect location because of its transport links and parking.

Anyone needing a refund should write to Mr Davies at New Dawn Events, Fangorn Farm, Mulben, Keith, Banffshire, AB55 6YX, telephone 0845 0508252 or email brian@ new-dawn-events.co.uk