Kings of Leon have pulled all of the band’s U.K. and European shows for the summer following Caleb Followill being involved in a “freak accident.”
The frontman announced the news on Wednesday (May 28) via an update posted across social media. Taking to Instagram, he shared that he underwent emergency surgery recently after breaking his foot.
“Hello to everyone out there, especially our European fans who are coming to see us this summer,” the singer and guitarist began in his video message. “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.”
Moreover, he added that the band was planning on previewing some unreleased material during the now-canceled gigs. Followill also reassured fans that he and his bandmates will continue trying to work on new music over the coming months.
“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.”
He concluded: “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 all right. Hopefully, we will see you all soon.”
The Tennessee-formed four-piece were set to perform in Cardiff, Wales, and Lytham, England, this summer beginning on June 29. The former was a slot at the Blackweir Live series, and the latter was part of Lytham Festival, where acts including Justin Timberlake and Alanis Morissette are also set to appear.
Other affected gigs included Southsea’s Victorious Festival, Mad Cool Festival in Madrid and Belgium’s Rock Werchter. Rescheduled dates are yet to be announced.
In an official 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 traveling and performing.”
“The anticipated recovery process is expected to take eight weeks, under strict guidance of expert orthopaedic specialists,” it continued. “The band regrets to report that they will need to cancel all upcoming U.K. 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.”
The sibling act’s last full-length effort arrived in the form of 2023 LP Can We Please Have Fun. The record reached No. 35 on the Billboard 200 upon release, and hit No. 2 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart. The band is set to resume touring on July 18 when they support Zach Bryan at his show at the Metlife Stadium in New Jersey.
Watch Followill’s announcement about his injury below:
