WILLIE, NEIL, PEARL JAM SCRAP SHOWS DUE TO ILLNESS

A couple of legends have been forced to modify their summer touring plans due to illness this week, with 91-year-old Willie Nelson (CAA) having missed several shows on his Live Nation-promoted Outlaw Music Tour because of an undisclosed bug.

The Red Headed Stranger’s son Lukas has jumped in to perform on behalf of his dad, with sets each night by Bob Dylan and Robert Plant & Alison Krauss making Willie’s absence a bit less disappointing. Per a statement, Nelson "has been cleared by his doctors to go back on the road again" next week but is sitting out a gig tonight (6/28) in Syracuse, New York.

Meanwhile, since late April, Neil Young and Crazy Horse (AIG) have been on the road for the first time in a decade. Although the octogenarian rhythm section of Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina looked and sounded pretty creaky, early reviews of the shows were mostly positive.

Things appeared to take a turn for the worse, however, when the tour moved east; the musicians scrapped a 5/23 show in Detroit due to illness and then remained mum for weeks mulling their next move. They’ve since canceled the rest of their 2024 itinerary, which was to include September stops at the Hollywood Bowl, the Bourbon & Beyond festival in Louisville, Kentucky, and Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder’s Ohana in Dana Point, California. Let’s encircle these guys in bubble wrap and wish them a speedy recovery.

Ironically, Pearl Jam itself had to cancel its show tomorrow (6/29) at London's 50k-cap Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after Vedder was apparently beset by some sort of microorganism between the European-leg tour opener in Dublin and the second stop earlier this week in Manchester, England. Booked by longtime agent Don Muller at WME, the Seattle Rock & Roll Hall of Famers' next show is scheduled for 7/2 in Berlin.