Kings of Leon, seen backstage at the Grammy Awards in January, were forced to cut short their St. Louis concert after being bombarded with pigeon excrement. (Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

Women's underwear, flower bouquets or even plastic water bottles are regularly tossed at musicians onstage, but Kings of Leon faced a bombardment of pigeon poop that forced an end to a concert in St. Louis over the weekend.

The Grammy-winners had been warned of the avian menace by organizers ahead of their Friday night show at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre.

Venue operators had told the performers — including opening bands the Postelles and the Stills — that they were suffering "a significant pigeon infestation problem with summer shows" but that they were "doing all they could to fix it."

The two opening acts completed their sets reportedly covered in excrement, but the Kings of Leon were determined to take the stage.

However, the Nashville rockers abandoned the gig just three songs in, after bassist Jared Followill was repeated struck with bird droppings.

"Jared was hit several times during the first two songs. On the third song, when he was hit in the cheek and some of it landed near his mouth, they couldn't deal any longer," Amy Mendelsohn, the band's publicist, said in a statement.

"It's not only disgusting — it's a toxic hazard. They really tried to hang in there."

The band's drummer, Nathan Followill, apologized to fans via his Twitter account, saying "it was too unsanitary to continue" the show.

"Sorry for all who [travelled] many miles."

Promoters will issue refunds to ticketholders for the scuttled St. Louis event.

The band — consisting of brothers Caleb, Nathan and Jared Followill along with their cousin, Matthew — will continue to tour promoting its latest album, Only By The Night, with a concert in Cleveland Monday night before upcoming dates in Toronto, New York, Detroit and the U.K.