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Korn Kancels Euro Tour
06/12/2006 4:42 PM, E! Online
Josh Grossberg
Korn's summer harvest has ended before it could even begin.
The rap-rock band was forced to cancel the remaining dates of
its European tour after frontman Jonathan Davis was hospitalized and
diagnosed with a blood disorder.
In a post on the band's
official Website, the singer told fans he had checked into a London
hospital following Saturday's gig at the U.K.'s Download Festival.
Doctors told him he had immune thrombocytopenic purpura, an infection
that prevents platelets produced by bone marrow from clotting normally.
"I started getting these weird bruises all over my body about
two weeks ago. I was getting very weak after the shows so I saw a doctor
in London Friday," writes Davis. "He took some blood tests and when the
results came in, they rushed me to the hospital."
The vocalist
was shocked to learn he had ITP, which he apparently contracted after
suffering an allergic reaction to prescription medication.
"My
blood platelets were really low. If I continued to headbang onstage, I
could have had a brain hemorrhage and dropped dead on the spot. Most
humans have between 140 and 400 in their cells. I had 5...no joke...
FIVE," he continues, adding that he was ordered to remain in the
hospital until his physicians could get his blood "in some kind of
healthy shape."
"The doctors are telling me that each day I've
been here in the hospital, my platelet count has been going up and I
should be healthy to play in a few weeks."
In a press release,
Korn announced it was scrapping the rest of the European gigs, which
included a number of festival stops as well as a show at Amsterdam's
Heineken Music Hall on Tuesday, until Davis sufficiently recovers.
"We were truly looking forward to playing the rest of the
overseas dates," the band said, "so we have tremendous regrets about not
being able to connect with our fans, whom we know are the best in the
world. We want to thank them for their understanding and loyal
support--and, at the same time, let them know that we will see them when
we return to Europe."
With the band locked into a headline
slot on the Family Values tour, running through North America until
mid-September, it is unlikely the Euro dates will be made up until the
fall. (The Family Values road show kicks off July 27 in Virginia Beach,
Virginia and wraps up in West Palm Beach, Florida Sept. 20.)
But Davis says he and the other members will do everything in their
power to "come back soon to play dates we are unable to play this
tour."
Although Davis was MIA, his band mates--guitarist James
"Munky" Shaffer, basist Reginald "fieldy" Arvizu and drummer David
Silveria--went on with the show at Saturday's Download Festival.
Recruiting some kindred spirits from several other bands on the
bill to fill in for the ailing singer, Korn played a truncated 30-minute
set. Among the guests were Slipknot/Stone Sour singer Corey Taylor,
Jesse Hasek of 10 Years, M. Shadlows from Avenged Sevenfold and Benji
Webbe of Skindred.
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