U.S. Rockers Caught Up in Chile Earthquake Zone Upset Fans

Rockers Dream Theater are nervous about their Friday night (12Mar10) concert in Chile - because they fear ongoing earthquakes in the country will prevent them getting back to America.

The group has refused to cancel the scheduled date at the Movistar Arena in Santiago, despite the fact that the city has been rocked by a seriesof quakes in the past two weeks - the latest, on Thursday (11Mar10).

Drummer Mike Portnoy made his feelings known in a 'tweet' to fans, writing, "I can't wait to play the show and get the hell outta here".

He has since apologised to Chilean fans, who took to the Internet to call the rocker a "coward" for going public with his concerns.

Portnoy responded with another Twitter.com post, in which he wrote, "Wecame to Santiago to play for our great fans here... I'm sorry if the constant aftershocks have us slightly weirded out".

He later added, "Obviously we love our fans down here or we wouldn't behere right now... We're just not used to this. Let's all calm down... pray for the earthquakes and aftershocks to stop... and have a great show... with our great fans in Chile!"