KUALA LUMPUR, May 17 ― Torrential downpour ruined the performance by Academy Award winning singer AR Rahman, said organisers who today insisted they had planned to hold “the best concert of the year”.

Addressing criticisms over the event last Saturday that was plagued by technical problems and delayed over three hours, Black Horse Media maintained it should not be blamed for the mess.

"We organised the concert to the best of our abilities. There's no one to blame for what happened. It was rain, it was nature," Black Horse chairman R. Chandra said.

The concert billed as AR Rahman Live in KL 2016 in Stadium Merdeka saw attendees suffer a three-hour long delay with no explanation, a flooded stage that raised concerns about the artistes’ safety, and crowd control problems.

The concert scheduled for 8pm eventually started at 11pm and concluded at 1am after local authorities granted an extension.

Chandra today explained that the delay was because Rahman’s management initially refused to begin the performance in the torrid conditions.

"The concert eventually took place because of our side and AR Rahman's side compromised our own interests for the sake of the audiences who have been waiting for hours," Chandra said.

He also said the sound system had malfunctioned due to the rain, adding this was the reason they were unable to inform the crowd of developments.

Many concertgoers reportedly left the venue before it started at 11pm.

Black Horse director David Raja today insisted Rahman was happy with the organisers despite the events on Saturday.

"He did publicly thank the organisers at the end of the show and he continued communications with us until he left Malaysia this morning," he said.

"If he has unhappy, why would he and his team of singers continuously praise the organising team?" he added.

The concert was the first major undertaking for Black Horse, which was established in January this year.

Chandra said that there might be another Rahman concert in the future, this time indoors.

"We want to make up for the disappointment of those who waited and give them a concert that goes according to plan this time," he added.

This was Rahman's second Malaysian concert in three years.

He previously performed in the same stadium in 2014 as part of his Infinite Love global tour, but following criticisms that it contained mixture of Hindi and Tamil language performances, last Saturday's concert was organised as a Tamil-only offering.