Kings of Leon cancel UK tour dates after lead singer’s "freak accident"
The band's upcoming UK and European shows have been cancelled after frontman Caleb Followill suffered an injury.
Rock band Kings of Leon have been forced to cancel their upcoming UK and Europe tour shows after a “freak accident”.
The American rockers had been due to play a series of performances in Cardiff and Lancashire this summer, as well as shows in Spain, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Croatia, Belgium and Portugal.
However, lead singer Caleb Followill recently announced that the gigs had been called off after he “shattered” his heel while playing with his children.
In a video posted to the band’s official Instagram page, Followill explained: "Hello to everyone out there, especially our European fans that are coming to see us this summer. Unfortunately I regret to inform you that those shows will have to be cancelled due to a freak accident that happened the other day."
He continued: "I broke my foot pretty bad just playing with my kids… It’s pretty gnarly and I’ll spare all the details. But we’re fortunate enough to have some great doctors here in Nashville that gave me emergency surgery.
"I’m on the mend, but they’ve told me that I can’t be on my feet, travelling, or anything for the next eight weeks or so. That’s a big bummer.
"We were so excited. We’ve been preparing for this tour for a long time, we’ve been preparing for a lot of things."
He added: "We’ve been in the studio recording, we have a bunch of new songs, we were going to debut a few of them on this run.
"We had a lot of exciting things planned and now we’re going to have to pivot and find a new way to continue the work that we’ve started.’
"I’m very excited for when we do get to show you the stuff we’re doing, and in the meantime we’re going to do whatever work we can while I have these limitations.
"Exciting stuff is coming, I know this isn’t the message anyone wants to hear, and it’s certainly not the message I want to be sending, but it’s going to be alright.
"Everything is going to be good. Hopefully, we will see y’all soon."
The video ended with Caleb panning the camera across to his leg, which was in a cast.
The band, which also comprises Jared, Nathan and Matthew Followill, shared a separate statement which read: "Kings of Leon are updating fans that Caleb Followill has recently sustained a serious injury, shattering his heel and requiring a significant emergency surgery, that will prevent him from travelling and performing."
It continued: "The anticipated recovery process is expected to take eight weeks, under strict guidance of expert orthopaedic specialists.
"The band regrets to report that they will need to cancel all upcoming UK and European festival headline shows in June and July of this year."
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Authors
Molly Moss is a Trends Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest trends across TV, film and more. She has an MA in Newspaper Journalism and has previously written for publications including The Guardian, The Times and The Sun Online.
