An ardent Australian music enthusiast experienced a mortifying moment during the weekend when his public marriage proposal at a Brisbane concert was met with a harsh refusal.

Video clips circulating on social media capture the scene where a male attendee invited his girlfriend on stage during a performance by the indie-rock group Bootleg Rascal, setting the stage for a romantic gesture.

In the footage, he recalls their shared memory, saying, “My partner and I first saw Bootleg Rascal two, three years ago. Jamie, could you come up on stage quickly?”

Obliging his request, she joined him on stage as he took the traditional stance on one knee.

Unfortunately, the proposal didn’t unfold as hoped. His girlfriend was seen shaking her head in refusal, gently attempting to bring him back to his feet.

As she retreated off stage, he dejectedly questioned “No?” and visibly slumped over, crestfallen.

An Australian music lover was humiliated over the weekend after his public proposal at a Brisbane music concert was brutally rejected 

Bootleg Rascal vocalist Carlos Lara exclusively told Daily Mail the man had contacted them beforehand to arrange it, and were as shocked as the crowd by the outcome. 

‘I don’t think I have ever felt more awkward on stage in my life. I had no idea what to do or say, I was just like, “The show must go on,”‘ Carlos said.

‘Our manager told us a fan wanted to do a proposal on stage and we were like, “Cool!” I almost spat my beer out [upon seeing the rejection], I was like, “Oh my gosh.”‘

He also denied suggestions the proposal was a ‘stunt’ to promote his band’s latest single.

‘In a world of fake news and AI, it does seem that way. But it was as real as can be; we had no idea what was going to happen with it,’ he said.

Carlos said the band felt terrible about what had happened and had reached out to the rejected man to offer him support.

‘We spoke to the guy and he was doing all right. He was definitely seeking some beers after the show. 

‘We threw him a free T-shirt and said, “Hope you’re doing okay”, so he at least got something out of it, some free merch which is better than nothing,’ he said. 

However, things didn’t go according to plan when he popped the question, with his girlfriend seen shaking her head no, while trying to pull him up 

The band shared footage of the proposal to their social media

Carlos finished by saying the band still had a romantic streak and had no problems with other fans proposing at their future concerts – but hoped it would go better than this one.

‘I am not against it. If anyone else wants to do a Bootleg proposal, we would love for that to happen,’ he said.

‘We are all about love. If anyone else wants to do a proposal or anything else at our gigs, just hit us up!’

The band also shared footage of the awkward proposal to their social media.

‘First show off to a great start. Not sure we’ll be helping out with another public proposal for a while,’ they wrote in the caption. 

Fans quickly took to the comments section to share their thoughts.

‘I don’t think I have ever felt that awkward on stage in my life!!!’ one person wrote.

‘Poor fella – anyone know if he’s okay?’ a second asked.

‘Damn. Bro didn’t even plan a speech other than, “We saw this same band two years ago so it’s probably the thing to do.” Romantic stuff,’ another sniped.

Meanwhile, others suggested it was a staged stunt to promote the band’s latest breakup single, called Reasons.

‘Amazing way to advertise the tour,’ one follower quipped.