Paramore perform during the 2023 Boston Calling Music Festival at Harvard Athletic Complex on May 28, 2023 in Boston, Massachusetts. CREDIT: Taylor Hill / GETTY
Paramore has canceled the last two shows in its ongoing tour because of lead singer Hayley Williams’ lung infection.
The group had been scheduled to perform Thursday night in Portland, Oregon, and Sunday night in Salt Lake City to conclude the latest leg of their 69-show globetrotting This Is Why Tour.
“I physically cannot go on,” Williams said in a statement posted Thursday on the band’s social media pages. “I know this isn’t great news for anyone.”
Paramore previously rescheduled four shows — including the now-canceled Portland and Salt Lake City dates — due to Williams’ illness. Shows in San Francisco and Seattle went on as rescheduled earlier this week.
Screenshot of Hayley Williams IG story Aug 10, 2023
“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 posted on her Instagram story Wednesday night, minutes after the Seattle show. “My lungs are just not healing quickly enough to keep up. It got a little scary tonight.”
Paramore said anyone holding tickets to the Portland and Salt Lake City shows would be refunded. The pop-punk band remains scheduled to play six shows in New Zealand and Australia in November. They’re also set to open for Taylor Swift during the European leg of her Eras Tour next year.
Williams previously spoke about how the ambitious tour has challenged her in new ways since Paramore’s last tour in 2017-18.
“Touring is different at 34 than it was at 16, when leaving home felt like the greatest escape,” she wrote after rescheduling the dates. “Even in my 20s, I benefited from the constant music. It was a perfect distraction from relational issues and my own mind.”
In addition to their own shows, Paramore opened for Swift at a few stops on the first U.S. leg of her tour, which concluded Wednesday night in Los Angeles.
“I have been doing everything I can to fight this infection so we wouldn’t have to disappoint anyone with more news of postponements and cancellations,” Williams said Thursday. “We are so sorry to all of you.”
