Amid a summer that has seen Ontario affected by SARS, mad cow disease and potential rolling blackouts, the star-studded Watershed Four concert has been postponed. The annual rock and country music weekend was slated to begin Aug. 29 in Walkerton, Ontario with a concert by Alan Jackson. Other artists included Bryan Adams, ZZ Top, Melissa Etheridge, LeAnn Rimes, Travis Tritt and Peter Frampton.

According to reports, approximately one-third of the 65,000 tickets were sold for the weekend festival. Richard Sharpe, organizer for the show, said the two SARS-related benefit concerts in Toronto earlier this year were factors in slow ticket sales.

"These events not only sucked money from the music audience but the government subsidies made our event -- even with a weekend ticket price of less than $120 -- seem expensive by comparison," Sharpe said in a statement. "Now, with rolling blackouts a fact of life for the next few weeks, there was no guarantee that sufficient power to run the show would be available."

Organizers will try again next year, with June 11-13 already locked in for the event. The Watershed series of concerts began in 2000 after an e.coli bacteria breakout in the town's water supply resulted in seven deaths.

There is no word on whether the cancellation affects planned Toronto appearances by some of the artists. Bryan Adams is slated for an Aug. 30 show at the Molson Amphitheatre.