British boy band The Overtones relied on a helicopter to fly them to London to perform as last-minute replacements for Bryan Ferry on Tuesday night (05Apr11) - they were stuck in traffic when the request to fill-in came through.
The doo-wop stars, currently riding high in the U.K. album charts with their debut disc Good Ol' Fashioned Love, were travelling back from a show in the north of England when organisers of an Olympics 2012 event at London's O2 Arena asked them to step in after the Roxy Music frontman fell ill.
But the frustrated five-piece were forced to abandon their car and hike across a field, where a waiting helicopter transported them to the U.K. capital with just minutes to spare before stage time.
The singers kept fans updated about the drama on Twitter.com, and singer Mike Crawshaw later said, "One minute we were at a standstill on the motorway - next minute, we were trudging across a muddy field with a suit in hand and a chopper landed, whizzing us off to the O2. Absolutely nuts!"
His bandmate Mark Franks adds, "We were so thrilled that we could perform at the gig - it was brilliant fun... It was brilliant for us to be performing for the Olympic Committee... We hope they'll invite us back - we'd be there in a flash! Unfortunately, there was no chopper this morning. It was straight back to the tube (London Underground)! Reality check!"