Kings of Leon have cancelled their upcoming UK and European shows, after frontman Caleb Followill had a “freak accident” while playing with his children.
Followill announced the news on Instagram on Wednesday, saying he sustained a foot injury and that he had to have emergency surgery.
It means the band’s performances on June 29 at Blackweir Fields in Cardiff and their slot at Lytham Festival, Lancashire, on July 2 have been scrapped.
They are still set to play Victorious Festival in Portsmouth and Newcastle’s Come Together Festival later in the summer.
“Hello to everyone out there, especially our European fans who are coming to see us this summer,” he 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.”
The band added in an official statement: “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 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. Caleb took to social media today to detail his injury in a heartfelt apology to all the fans.”
Kings of Leon released their ninth album Can We Please Have Fun last May, and Followill added that the band were looking forward to the cancelled dates.
“We were so excited, we’ve been preparing for this tour for a long time…,” 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.”
