Red Hot Chili Peppers Cancel Gig After Anthony Kiedis Hospitalized
“Extreme stomach pain” force singer to nix performance at KROQ’s Weenie Roast
Red Hot Chili Peppers were forced to cancel their Saturday performance at the annual KROQ Weenie Roast after Anthony Kiedis was hospitalized. Photo: Clara Balzary
UPDATE: Red Hot Chili Peppers have issued a statement detailing Kiedis’ condition and confirming their May 17th concert in Burbank has been postponed. “Due to Anthony Kiedis’ hospitalization from complications from the intestinal flu on Saturday evening, the Red Hot Chili Peppers regretfully must postpone their upcoming concert for iHeart Radio on May 17th,” the band wrote Sunday. “They would like to extend their gratitude to the fans for the outpouring of well wishes. Anthony is expected to make a full recovery soon.”
Red Hot Chili Peppers were forced to cancel their Saturday performance at the annual KROQ Weenie Roast in Irvine, California at the last minute after Anthony Kiedis was hospitalized. The singer was at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre when he began experiencing “extreme stomach pain,” a KROQ rep told Billboard. Kiedis was then transported from the venue to a nearby hospital.
“No one’s more disappointed than us that we couldn’t perform tonight. Sending love and a speedy recovery to my brother Anthony,” drummer Chad Smith tweeted late Saturday after the Chili Peppers nixed their gig.
Once Kiedis was taken to the hospital, Smith, Flea and guitarist Josh Klinghoffer came onstage at the event to explain to the crowd that they would not be performing as planned.
“We live to rock, we live to fucking dig deep into the depths of our hearts and rock, but unfortunately there’s a medical thing that happened and we needed to deal with it, so we’re unable tonight,” Flea told the crowd. “We will play for you very soon, we will play for you like the feral animals that we are, and we’re so sorry.”
“Unfortunately due to illness the @ChiliPeppers were forced to cancel their set tonight at #WeenieRoast,” KROQ tweeted at 10:30 p.m. PST, 30 minutes after the Red Hot Chili Peppers were scheduled to take the stage at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre.
Red Hot Chili Peppers were recruited to headline the concert that also featured sets by Panic! at the Disco, Garbage, Cold War Kids, Fitz and the Tantrums, Empire of the Sun and Weezer, who performed an extended set to close out the Weenie Roast. Blink-182 also staged a surprise set at the Los Angeles radio station’s annual celebration.
The band is next scheduled to perform May 17th at Burbank, California’s iHeartRadio Theater; the Chili Peppers have not yet commented on the fate of that concert. They will follow that up with a May 23rd gig at Columbus, Ohio’s Rock on the Range and a May 29th show at Napa, California’s BottleRock before embarking on a summer full of festival dates, including sets at Pinkpop, Roskilde, Reading and Leeds, Osheaga and Lollapalooza.
Prior to Kiedis’ hospitalization, Flea and Smith sat down backstage with KROQ for an interview that delved into the Chili Peppers’ long history with the Weenie Roast as well as their upcoming LP The Getaway.
