Pop star Will Young played through tragedy last night, performing at Welford Road 24 hours after a member of his crew died.

The stage hand suffered face and head injuries after falling backstage at the singer's open-air concert in Kent on Thursday night.

Last night, Will performed to about 6,000 people at the Tigers stadium – the second concert at the venue in two nights.

The 2002 Pop Idol winner went on stage hours after releasing a statement to say he was "shocked and saddened" by the "tragic accident".

He said: "I was unaware of the seriousness of the incident until after I left the stage. My deepest sympathy goes out to the bereaved family."

The singer did not let Thursday night's tragedy affect yesterday's performance.

He ran on to the Welford Road pitch with a rugby ball, kicking a drop goal through the posts before going on to the stage.

Some 6,000 people in the audience sang, danced, cheered, swayed and clapped along to him for more than an hour.

They gave a big thumbs-up to the concert and the venue.

Sam Hill, 38, from Braunstone, Leicester, went with daughter Megan Palmer, eight.

Sam said: "It's been brilliant. Hopefully, there will be a lot more concerts here.

"I think it is a very good venue."

Janice Coulson, 56, of Desford, said: "I come to see the Tigers play so I was a bit worried about how this would affect the pitch.

"But I think it has been amazing. It has worked really well."

Last night was only the second concert to be held at the Tigers' stadium, following James Morrison's performance on Thursday.

The club said about 5,000 people had been in the audience that evening, with at least 6,000 in the crowd for last night's gig.

The only empty sections of the Caterpillar stand were the columns of seats at each side.

Stella Freestone, 27, from Aylestone, Leicester, said: "It's been brilliant. There are a lot more people here than I thought there would be.

"I'd really like to see more concerts here. This has been a great start."

Karen Gilding, 32, from Glen Parva, said: "It has been a lovely night.

"I thought it was going to be strange with everyone in one stand but actually it's been really personal."

Charles Rayner, the Tigers' head of stadium operations, said yesterday he was "pleased" and "proud" of how the venue's first concerts had gone.