The 43-year-old last night took to social media to apologise to fans for opting to sing the national anthem at the McGregor and Mayweather fight instead of a scheduled performance as a headline act at a music festival in the UK during the weekend.

The powers-that-be in charge of the big fight decided at the last minute that they needed an Irish musician to sing the national anthem. They originally tried to get Bono to do the honours, but even though reports say he was up for it, the U2 frontman was unavailable as he was attending Paul McGuinness’s daughter’s wedding in Dublin.

It was then decided to ask Imelda May to jet over to Vegas at the last minute to sing the song, which meant that she had to, unfortunately, pull out of playing at the popular Down on the Close festival in Warwickshire.

Imelda is now promising that she will make it up to her fans.

And after some disgruntled gig goers took to social media to let off some steam over Imelda’s no show, the Dublin musician not only offered them a heart-felt apology but also explained in great detail why it was impossible to turn down the opportunity to “represent my country”.
She explains, “I simply felt duty called...I was asked to represent my country at the biggest sporting event in our small island’s history.
“I was very honoured and so proud to sing our national anthem to the world. I sincerely thank the amazing Conor McGregor for asking me to be part of his special, unbelievable evening.
“He won our hearts last night. I thank all of you for your support as I was nervous as hell until I started singing and then felt all your good vibes with me.
“I felt my family with me. I especially thank the good wishes from Lee and all those at the festival. I will make it up to you. Imelda X.”

Nevada desert morning. I feel I to address a few things. (Brace yourselves it's a long winded one!) I want to apologise to disappointed fans at Rugbys Down On The Close Festival for letting you down. I get it. Myself and my management have been working closely with the promoter to fix this situation. I hear most people were fine and that the festival was a huge success and everyone had a great time that went. I hear Cara Dillon was amazing. I've had a long, lovely conversation with Lee Martin who runs the @downontheclose festival and has been so understanding. I did not make the decision to cancel, lightly. I did not do it for money by the way. I did not do it for fame. I am fully aware my performance will be probably forgotten in 2seconds. . I simply felt duty called... I was asked to represent my country at the biggest sporting event in our small islands history. I was very honoured and so proud to sing our national anthem to the world. I sincerely thank the amazing Conor McGregor for asking me to be part of his special, unbelievable evening. He won our hearts last night. I thank all of you for your support as I was nervous as hell until I started singing and then felt all your good vibes with me. I felt my family with me. I especially thank the good wishes from Lee and all those at the festival. I will make it up to you. Imelda X

A post shared by Imelda May (@imeldaofficial) on Aug 27, 2017 at 11:26am PDT