Rock sick list: Prince

Prince had to get his private jet to make an unscheduled stopover in Illinois after he felt ill onboard.

He'd apparently been ill before getting on the plane, which kind of makes me feel glad he flies on private jets and doesn't wind up disrupting lots of people.

It's exciting for the people of Moline - the airport where he touched down - as it's the most exciting thing to have happened there for... well, possibly forever. It used to have a slogan "Joined together, as the boroughs of New York City", and when your region's motto references a more exciting place elsewhere, you know you're in a quiet town. ("Tamworth - where people bleed, just like they do in London"; that sort of thing.

Sadly, though, the local hospital wasn't planning on becoming a sideshow:

The TMZ report said a private plane carrying Prince landed at Quad-City International Airport in Moline early Friday, and the performer was taken to a hospital.

But Blake Long, marketing manager for UnityPoint Health's Illinois region, would not confirm that late Friday afternoon.

"Prince is not currently listed as a patient," Long said, adding the hospital system had no other comment.

You have to respect a place where the marketing manager for a hospital, handed his biggest opportunity, declines to get involved.

Meanwhile...

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported Friday night that two sources close to Prince told the paper that he was at home in Chanhassen, Minn., on Friday evening. One said he had been suffering from “bad dehydration” but that “all’s good.”

Well, which is it? Is everything good, or is the dehydration bad? Which is it?

Rock sick list: Paul Van Dyk

Dance man Paul Van Dyk fell off the stage during a weekend gig in Amsterdam.

He's okay, but under doctor's orders, according to his website:

Thank you for continuing to send us so many messages of love and support for Paul. Paul is in the hospital in stable condition and under observation. What he needs now is rest. We will provide another update after the next evaluation by the medical experts towards the end of this week.

Glastonbury 2015: When legs snap

The line-up for Glastonbury now has a scary TBA in the Friday night headline slot, with the Foo Fighters pulling out as Dave Grohl's leg is so badly broken.

If it was me, I'd shift Mark Ronson across to the main stage undercard and let Florence headline. In fact, I'd probably have let Florence headline even if Grohl hadn't snapped his leg.

Dave Grohl is a trouper

First song. Falls off stage. Breaks leg. In a cast. PLAYS ON.

Dave fell off the stage during the very first song and broke his leg. He's performing right now anyways. Legend. pic.twitter.com/CsIqnePHxM

— The Metal Core (@TheMetalCore) June 12, 2015

Dave Grohl broke his leg 20 minutes ago during a gig in Sweden and came back on in a cast! LEG END! #guitarhero pic.twitter.com/OVpqJ11XpC

— Today FM (@todayfmofficial) June 12, 2015

Joni Mitchell is in hospital

There's some grim news this morning from Joni Mitchell's official website:

Joni was found unconscious in her home this afternoon. She regained consciousness on the ambulance ride to an L.A. area hospital. She is currently in intensive care undergoing tests and is awake and in good spirits. More updates to come as we hear them. Light a candle and sing a song, let's all send good wishes her way.

There was a brief update later on:

Joni has been hospitalized. We are awaiting official word on her condition and will post it here as soon as we know.

Norman Greenbaum injured

Norman Greenbaum - who is so closely linked to Spirit In The Sky his personal website is spiritinthesky.com - has been injured in a motorcycle accident.

He was a passenger in a car involved in a collision with a motorcycle; the bike rider, Ihab Usama Halaweh was killed in the crash.

Greenbaum was taken to hospital where most recent reports say he was in a critical condition.

Noel Gallagher knocking on heaven's door - or perhaps just in the area

An eye-popping headline from NME.com:

Noel Gallagher told he would 'drop dead' if he came off medication

That's quite serious, then - so he was told he'd die if he didn't take the medicine, right?

Right?

Oh.

"Then I went on holiday with the kids. And I was getting out of a swimming pool with one of them in my hand and did my back in. Then my doctor put me on these tablets – I won’t tell you what for – [and] told me that if I didn't take them I would virtually drop dead."

So that's 'Noel says doctors told him he'd be quite unwell without taking medicine', then.

Rock Sick List: Bradford Cox

Deerhunter's Bradford Cox got hit by a car and is in both a bad way, and hospital:

Cox said he was hit by a car and was “still waiting for X-ray results or any real diagnoses” and that he “can’t move much” and is in “incredible pain.”

According to wonderingsound.com, Cox has been hospitalized at the Marcus Trauma Center in Grady Memorial Hospital.

Bono's eyes

Obviously, nobody would wish eye problems on anyone; not even upon Bono. But why are news outlets reporting his eye problems like it's news?

Didn't he "reveal" that he wore sunglasses because of eye problems back in 2005 in a Rolling Stone interview with Jann Wenner? (This is a rhetorical question to which the answer is yes.)

Yes; it must be terrible to have those eye problems, and who wouldn't be sympathetic. But you can't keep "revealing" you have them.

Morrissey: Still ill

Morrissey's tours are, commonly, disrupted by poor health; the latest disruption is, however, slightly different as his European tour has suddenly been overshadowed by his announcement of cancerous tissue:

The ex-Smiths star has recently battled bouts of ill health but revealed the cancer news during an email interview with Spanish newspaper El Mundo.

"I have had four cancer-scrapings, but so what. If I die, I die," he wrote. "If I don't, then I don't. As I sit here today I feel very well."

The singer started his latest European tour in Lisbon, Portugal, on Monday.

In the exchange with journalist Javier Blanquez, he wrote: "I know I look quite bad on recent photographs, but I am afraid this is what illness does to the overall countenance. I will save relaxation for when I'm dead."

There has been no further elaboration, but there is one oddity about this announcement.

Seasoned Morrissey watchers will know that the great man's main channel of communication is via True To You; but on that site, the news page hasn't been updated since September 25th, and then with a piece about an online shop, and DVD chart positions. It's a bit like the Vatican Bollettino not bothering to run a piece that day the Pope resigned.

Buble has mouth fixings

Michael Buble had been preparing for a gig in Manchester, New Hampshire when he tried to open a packet of ketchup with his teeth. And dislodged a crown.

A call went out for a dentist:

Bloom was in surgery Friday morning when he received an unusual call.

“The assistant comes in and says, ‘Dr. Bloom, your wife is on the phone,’ and I’m thinking, ‘Who died? What happened to the dog? What happened to the hour?’” Bloom said.

Bloom fixed up Buble's mouth, the show went on and Bloom got tickets and a call-out during the show.

Yes, without David Bloom's intervention, nobody would have had to listen to Michael Buble in New Hampshire that day. After nearly 40 years, Laurence Olivier's Dr Szell finally has a challenger for the 'inflicting misery using dental instruments' crown.

(Seriously: Buble - despite having the sort of pain which makes you seek out a dentist, Buble was still charm itself. He might be a hoofer, but he's a hell of a trooper.)

Rock sick list: Lorde

Pretty horrible for Lorde to fall ill and throw up on stage, but at least the ghoul who shoved video of it happening onto YouTube appears to have had a change of heart and taken it down.

Aaaaand that's the formal cancellation

Inevitably, then, the Morrissey US tour has been cancelled.

It's now thirty-four years since Morrissey completed anything (on that occasion he finished the general knowledge crossword in a copy of the New Family Titbits).

But of course, it isn't his fault, says an official announcement:

Morrissey announces the close down of the present U.S. tour with "unimaginable sorrow".

On Saturday, June 7th, following the show at Boston Opera House, Morrissey collapsed and was rushed to Massachusetts General Hospital where doctors treated Morrissey for "acute fever". Difficulties had arisen on May 31st following Kristeen Young's opening set at the Miami Knight Concert Hall, after which Kristeen confessed to "a horrendous cold", the symptoms of which were passed on to Morrissey resulting in the cancellation of the next show in Atlanta.
For the good of all, Kristeen was asked to step down from the immediate upcoming shows, but instead she decided to leave the tour entirely. Morrissey and the band wish her well and hope she is now in good health.

Morrissey received medical attention in Miami, and once again in Boston, but it was not enough to shake off the virus, the recovery time for which is too lengthy to meet the final 9 shows of the tour.

These devious people with their apparently weaponised colds.

Morrissey and the band are otherwise delighted and very grateful for their experiences on the U.S. tour, some shows of which they considered to be their best-ever.

It's the best-ever on the basis that, this time round, they actually got as far as doing a few soundchecks and actually turned up to run through some songs. On several occasions.

If you thought the current Morrissey tour was going too smoothly...

It was never going to happen that Mozzer made it through a tour unscathed, was it? He's just rescheduled two dates on medical advice; last week he cancelled Atlanta altogether because of a "virus".

Morrissey tickets: all the fun of a lottery ticket.

Bret Michaels isn't doing very well

Bret Michaels has put a hold on his solo tour due to health issues. How bad are they? Guitarist Pete Evick reckons they're pretty bad, and takes time to calibrate the measurement he's using here:

As I've stated before, I have stood with Bret for over nine years and have been around the world with him. I was there when his appendix burst, was there through the brain hemorrhage and watched him re-learn to walk and talk, not to mention countless blood sugar scares, but nothing like this. The complication of this brutal flu virus and how it has affected his blood glucose levels has been awful to watch. The perfect cocktail of such a virus along with diabetes and a high temperature is to be taken very seriously.

Still, Pete's sure the band will be picking up the tour next week, so perhaps not quite as bad as the brain haemorrhage, then.

Rock sick list: Percy Sledge

Percy Sledge isn't doing well, it turns out. He's pulled out of a UK tour as he's having treatment for liver cancer.

Linda Rondstadt won't be singing any more

Linda Rondstadt has said she won't be singing again, as she's got Parkinson's Disease:

Ronstadt says she began to show symptoms as long as eight years ago, but attributed her inability to sing then to a tick disease. When her hands began to tremble, Ronstadt said she thought the shaking was the result of a shoulder operation.

She said she was “completely shocked” when she finally saw a neurologist and was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. “I wouldn’t have suspected that in a million, billion years.

“No one can sing with Parkinson’s disease,” Ronstadt told AARP music writer Alanna Nash. “No matter how hard you try.”

It's a sad end to a career with a lot of high points, but few higher than this:

(Please, let's not ask what on earth would persuade someone to make a thirteen minute loop of the Plow King advert. Let's just not ask.)

Rock sick list: Lemmy

Lemmy's not been having a great time of it recently, and it doesn't sound like his health has turned a corner: Motorhead cut short a gig last night after six songs.

There's some pretty lurid rumours circulating about what actually happened after the sixth song, and everything appears to be at about fourth hand, but Ultimate Classic Rock seems sure about this:

Motorhead ended their scheduled 75-minute set at the Wacken Open Air festival in Wacken, Germany after only 30 minutes. According to Metal Talk (via Classic Rock), the band played their songs at a slower tempo than usual and that Lemmy looked pale. At one point he told the crowd, “I’ve been ill recently – I’ve come onstage to play some rock n’ roll and f— myself even more.”

He seems to have done that pretty successfully.

[Thanks to @zaichishka]

Randy Travis is unwell

Randy Travis isn't doing too well:

"Mr. Randy Travis is out of surgery and in critical condition," the hospital website announced Wednesday night.

The stroke is "a complication of his congestive heart failure" for which he is being treated at The Heart Hospital at Baylor Plano in Texas, Kirt Webster said.

"We will have updates as they become available," Webster said. "His family and friends here with him at the hospital request your prayers and support.
"
Word of his setback came just hours after his doctors said Travis had "stabilized and he has shown signs of improvement."

Morrissey pulls another batch of dates

Oh, Morrissey. Every time he sets a date and books a tour, he falls unwell. Now, severe food poisoning has put a ding in his South American tour:

“Due to severe food poisoning suffered by the artist and of the accompanying equipment in Lima, Latin concerts scheduled for July and August will be postponed for the next months. The new dates will be communicated shortly. Morrissey and his team have been in Lima, Peru, from July 1. The artist was very excited about the upcoming shows and are very disappointed to have to postpone the dates.”

The whole team was hit with the food poisoning.

Try not to think of the little toilets in those tour buses. It won't make your breakfast taste better.