Paramore Cancel Final Dates of N. American Tour Due to Hayley Williams’ Lung Issues: ‘It Got a Little Scary Tonight’

Paramore have been forced to cancel the final two dates on their U.S. tour due to singer Hayley Williams’ ongoing health issues. The singer announced the news in an Instagram Story on Thursday morning (Aug. 10) in which she revealed that the band’s shows at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland tonight and the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Sunday (Aug. 13) have been called off as she continues to battle a lung infection.

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“Hey everybody, we just got off stage in Seattle. After speaking with our team and my doc, I know that trying to finish this tour is now going to come at a detriment to my health,” Williams wrote after the group performed at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle on Weds. night. “My lungs are just not healing quickly enough to keep up. It got a little scary tonight.” The Seattle, Portland and Salt Lake City shows had previously been postponed and rescheduled due to Williams’ illness.

Williams promised that the band would be posting an official statement about the show cancellations as soon as they could and she apologized to those fans who’ve already been camping out in Portland. “I’m so sorry for all the chaos this has caused some of you. I really tried to kick this s–t. Love you all,” she wrote.

The disappointing news came just days after Paramore made headlines in San Francisco when Golden State Warriors legend Steph Curry joined them on stage on Monday at the Chase Center to help Williams sing “Misery Business.” Curry nailed every lyric to the song’s bridge, bringing some unexpected passion to the key moment in the show when the band typically invites a fan up to help sing their signature hit.

“I watched his wildest dreams come true/ Not one of them involving you,” Curry yelled into the microphone after a count-in from Williams. This week was slated to be the final run of shows on the band’s This Is Why tour, which kicked off in October in support of Paramore’s sixth album of the same name.

The tour has run into some bumps along the way due to Williams’ health issues. In July they postponed a handful of dates after Williams, 34, suffered a lung infection, a decision she defended online after a swarm of haters she referred to in a post as “weird incels” pointed out that older rock heroes such as the Foo Figthers’ Dave Grohl persevered through shows with a broken leg.

“internet bros have been pressed by my proximity to rock music and all its subgenres since 2005,” she wrote in an Instagram Story last week. “I have a lung infection you soft s—! Not a broken limb… One you can sing with for 2 hours, another you cant. But worry not! The shows weren’t canceled, merely postponed a week. Maybe you should come out to one of them… like Dave did.”

Gil Kaufman

Billboard