KYLIE Minogue has cancelled her shows tonight and tomorrow night at the M.E.N. Arena after being diagnosed with a chest infection. The singer spent yesterday in her hotel room at Piccadilly's Malmaison Hotel before checking out last night.

She left through the back door after being led down the hotel stairs accompanied by a four-strong entourage.

Kylie was driven off in an Audi A8, understood to be heading to her London home.

An onlooker said: "She smiled and got in the car. She looked fine and chirpy and she was wearing a scarf wrapped around her neck."

M.E.N. Arena bosses say that she is expected to perform on Thursday and Friday night after getting five days' rest.

But it is not yet known if the cancelled concerts, for which 30,000 tickets have been sold, will be rescheduled.

Anyone with tickets for Monday or Tuesday is being advised to hold on to them until a decision has been made as they will remain valid for any new dates.

Kylie's spokesman said: "Kylie has been diagnosed by doctors as having a moderately severe respiratory tract infection and doctors have insisted that she not perform in the immediate future."

On Saturday night Kylie walked off stage 40 minutes into the second show of her six-date run after telling the audience she was too sick to continue. It is understood tour bosses have not yet come to a decision on whether the 14,000 concertgoers will be refunded.

Abandoned

Saturday night was the first time Kylie, 38, has ever abandoned a show in her 20-year pop career.

At the start of the night, Kylie told the audience, which included Will Young and Man United aces Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo, that she had a cold.

Later, the singer returned from a costume change and said: "I'm sorry...but I can't sing on."

The star briefly chatted and shook hands with audience members close to the stage before quitting.

Her early departure was met with both cheers and boos from the crowd, who had paid at least é55 for tickets and travelled from as far as Scotland.

Die-hard Kylie fan Chris Bird, who took his family to the show, told the M.E.N: "We were not surprised when she said she would have to go because she had already said she wasn't feeling well. We were not disappointed because you have to think about what she's been through and what a fighter she is.

"I saw her first-ever performance at the Apollo in Manchester so to be honest if she'd come out on stage and just waved to the crowd I would have been happy.

"The real fans recognise her comeback is a magnificent feat. The concert was a real showgirl performance with great singing and dancing - it wasn't until she spoke you could hear she was suffering with a heavy cold.

"A lot of performers would have sent their management out to say the show wasn't going on. To come out and say it yourself to that many thousand people shows incredible bottle."

Cancelled

Not every concertgoer agreed. This website has been flooded with comments from readers, many of whom felt Kylie should have cancelled the gig and rescheduled beforehand.

Henrietta, of Stockport, said: "I am totally fuming. If she was ill on Friday night, why did she not cancel it earlier to save us wasting our time and hard earned money? Not all of us are as well off as Kylie Minogue. I will never bother with her or her records again."

A spokesman has denied the health scare was linked to her battle with breast cancer, which forced her to put her career on hold for a year-and-a-half before her comeback tour which began in Sydney, Australia, last November.

Jon Bills, tour spokesman, said: "Several members of the crew, the tour manager and Kylie have been suffering from flu - but she didn't want to let anyone down. She wanted to try to get through the show, but had to cut it short. She wanted to soldier on."

Kylie, who first tasted fame in the eighties as Neighbours' mechanic Charlene Robinson, was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2005. She underwent successful surgery in Melbourne, her hometown that month, before chemotherapy in Paris.

You can leave your get well messages for Kylie below - we will pass them on to her.