In a social media post on Wednesday (May 28th), Kings of Leon announced they have cancelled their upcoming UK and European shows as a result of a “freak accident” involving frontman Caleb Followill that resulted in him having to undergo emergency surgery.
“Hello to everyone out there, especially our European fans who are coming to see us this summer,” Followill’s statement began. “Unfortunately I regret to inform you that those shows will have to be cancelled due to a freak accident that happened the other day. I broke my foot pretty bad 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 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.“
He continued, revealing that the band were planning to surprise fans with a few new songs during the now-cancelled shows.
“We were so excited, we’ve been preparing for this tour for a long time… 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,” Followill said. “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. It’s certainly not the message I want to be sending, but it’s going to be alright. Hopefully, we will see y’all soon.”
In a separate statement, the band also shared: “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.
“The anticipated recovery process is expected to take eight weeks, under strict guidance of expert orthopedic 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. Caleb took to social media today to detail his injury in a heartfelt apology to all the fans.”
