EP headliners Kings of Leon cancel UK and European tour after 'freak accident'
According to a statement from the band, the singer has a "serious" shattered heel injury and needed "a significant emergency surgery that will prevent him from travelling and performing".
"The anticipated recovery process is expected to take 8 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," the Grammy Award winners said.
Kings of Leon were set to kick off their European tour in Paris on June 10, and the run of 10 shows would have concluded on July 12 in Portugal.
Despite being forced to cancel a slew of upcoming shows, the Use Somebody rockers are still expected to perform at Electric Picnic in Co Laois in late August.
Followill took to social media soon after the band announced that they were cancelling their upcoming tour dates to confirm that he had undergone emergency surgery after suffering a "gnarly" foot injury while playing with his children.
"Hello to everyone out there, especially to our European fans that are preparing to come see us this summer," Followill said in a video posted to Instagram on Wednesday.
"Unfortunately, I regret to inform you that those shows will have to be cancelled due to a freak accident that happened the other day – broke my foot pretty bad, just playing with my kids, it's pretty gnarly, I'll spare [you] all the details.
"But we're fortunate enough to have some great doctors here in Nashville that gave me emergency surgery, and I'm on the mend, but they've told me that I can't be on my feet or travelling or anything for the next eight weeks or so.
"And that's a big bummer, man, we were so excited, we've been preparing for this tour for a long time.
"We've been preparing for a lot of things, 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 just going to have to pivot and find a new way to continue the work that we've started.
"I'm very excited when we do get to show you the stuff that we're doing, and in the meantime, we're gonna do whatever work we can while I have these limitations."
Followill later showed the band's followers his leg in a cast, saying the situation was "no fun."
"I know this isn't the message that anyone wants to hear and it's certainly not the message that I want to be sending," he said.
"But it's gonna be alright. Everything's gonna be good and hopefully we'll see y'all soon."
Kings of Leon are set to make their Electric Picnic debut this summer when they headline the Stradbally festival alongside Wicklow singer Hozier, US pop star Chappell Roan and chart-topping DJ Fatboy Slim.
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