Coal Chamber Postpone U.S. Tour After Singer Dez Fafara’s Medical Emergency: ‘My Vitals Were Through the Roof’
Just one week before the planned kick-off of a headlining U.S. tour with Fear Factory, Twizted and Black Satellite, hard rockers Coal Chamber were forced to postpone the outing following singer Dez Fafara’s emergency hospitalization over the weekend.
The 58-year-old vocalist apologized to fans in a lengthy statement about having to press pause on the Fiend of the Fans tour — scheduled to launch on Friday (August 23) in Las Vegas and run through a Sept. 29 show in Denver — but said a recent unspecified health crisis forced his hand.
“With a heavy heart, let me tell you a story about life taking a turn, I’m writing to you from my bed. I’ve been running 6 miles daily, I’ve been rehearsing two hours daily in my home studio and excited to hit the road, I’m excited to get on a bus with my brothers and sister and my crew. I’ d never felt better and as you all know, I fought back hard after long haul COVID tried to kill me,” Fafara wrote in the post.
“Saturday morning I woke up and I was coming up my stairs. I saw flashes in my eyes. I passed out and my wife revived me. My vitals were through the roof, and I was sheet white and vomiting, and the whole world was spinning,” he continued. “[My wife] Anahstasia called 911. I ended up in the back of an ambulance and did nine hours in the ER testing all my vitals including taking X-rays of my heart and lungs. My doctor has advised me to get a cat scan, and until further testing, I am on bedrest and must postpone the Tour. Our agent sprung into action to rebook this tour for March 2025, and until we can figure out what the f–k medically is happening.”
Fafara said the tour is now scheduled to hit the road in March 2025 under the same name. “This tour postponement is surreal, I was looking forward to playing with my band and connecting with fans, friends and family on the road,” Fafara wrote. “I want to take a moment to thank everybody for their outpouring of love and outpouring of calls and texts checking on me. It seems like the word spread and the whole industry has been ringing my phone since Sunday; musicians, agents and managers and I really really appreciate it.”
As of now, the re-routed outing will begin with a March 5 show at the Summit in Denver and run through an April 18 gig at the Myth Live in Maplewood, MN.
Fafara ended his note with an uplifting message about resilience and an promise to keep fans in the loop on developments. “Kiss your loved ones, no one is promised tomorrow. I’ll fight my way back to be with you all onstage you can be sure of that as well I’ll keep you all updated on my socials as to what’s going on,” the singer said. “Apologies if this news causes you to rearrange your schedules to attend the concert with us and I want to say thank you in advance. We are all truly in the dark and I’m looking forward to finding out what’s going on. HAIL.”
See Fafara’s post and the rescheduled tour dates below.
Gil Kaufman
Billboard