The Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne was hospitalised after coming down with pneumonia.
The American psychedelic rock band were forced to cancel their show at Vienna’s Gasometer on Monday (15.05.26) after the 65‑year‑old singer was placed on bed rest.
Sharing a photo of Wayne in a hospital bed, the group wrote on Instagram: “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 band are next scheduled to perform in Bologna, Italy, on Thursday (18.06.26), though it remains unclear whether Coyne will be well enough to return to the stage.
They have a busy summer ahead, with the UK and Ireland leg of their tour kicking off in Galway on July 16, followed by dates in Halifax, Glasgow, Margate, Wolverhampton and Cardiff. The Flaming Lips are also set to appear at Latitude and Nottingham’s Splendour Festival.
Wayne has previously spoken about a near‑death experience that shaped his approach to life and music.
Held at gunpoint during a restaurant robbery at age 17, he said the incident made him “less afraid” to take creative risks.
He told the Guardian newspaper 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.'”
Despite this, Wayne only realised that the incident wasn’t “normal” years later.
He said: “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.”