The Flaming Lips have cancelled a show in Vienna after frontman Wayne Coyne was hospitalised with pneumonia.
The band confirmed the news after being forced to pull out of their planned performance at Vienna’s Gasometer on Monday (15.05.26), explaining that the 65 year old singer had been placed on strict bed rest.
Sharing an image of Coyne in hospital on Instagram, the group wrote: "We are truly sorry, Vienna, but our show tonight at Gasometer is cancelled. Wayne has pneumonia and has been ordered to bed rest. All refunds will be available from your point of purchase. We hope to see you again."
The Flaming Lips are currently scheduled to perform next in Bologna, Italy, on Thursday (18.06.26), although it is not yet clear whether Coyne will have recovered in time to return to the stage.
The band’s upcoming tour remains packed, with a UK and Ireland run beginning in Galway on July 16, followed by stops in cities including Halifax, Glasgow, Margate, Wolverhampton and Cardiff. They are also set to appear at major UK festivals including Latitude and Splendour Festival in Nottingham.
Coyne has previously reflected on a formative experience that shaped his outlook on creativity and risk. Speaking about being held at gunpoint during a restaurant robbery at age 17, he said it changed how he approaches artistic work and fear.
He told the Guardian in 2022: "I do think it made me less afraid to do things in the name of art.
"I now think: 'What harm is going to happen if I make a bad record?' Once you’ve stood with a gun to your head and thought: 'Well, I’m gonna die,' the petty little things don’t bother you. It definitely shaped my fierceness - if that’s the right word.'"
He later admitted it took years before he realised the experience was not something most people go through.
"There were a lot of robberies around that time.
"You assumed if you got robbed, you were also going to get shot, your body would be thrown in the walk-in cooler and your mother would find out on the news. That pizza place was around the corner. I did get the feeling that these guys had already robbed a couple of places, but all we saw was a brief police report.
"Aged 16, 17, I assumed: 'Everyone must nearly die two or three times, growing up.' Only later in life did I realise: that’s not normal."
