Ian Gillan says a medical procedure he underwent on November 6 was successful and that he now needs time to recover. The Deep Purple singer shared the update after an emergency in Leipzig prompted the band to postpone the rest of its European and UK tour. The group says it is working to reschedule the affected shows and will honour existing tickets.
Ian Gillan addressed Deep Purple’s audience on November 7 with a short account of the previous day. The medical procedure he had undergone was successful, he said, and he was going to rest before getting back to work. He thanked people for their patience and understanding and apologised again for the disruption to the tour. He gave no date for a return.
The update followed a week in which the band had first called off two German shows and then postponed the remaining dates of its European and UK run. The first notice concerned Leipzig. Deep Purple were due to play the QI Arena on October 31 when Gillan needed urgent hospital attention in the city. The show in Hamburg the next day could not go ahead either.
Ian Gillan gave his own account of what had happened in a statement published by the band on November 2. He said he had hoped to get medical clearance to continue until the end of the tour. His medical team advised him of serious risks, and he and the band’s management decided to postpone the rest of the run. That statement explained the change in plans while leaving the underlying diagnosis private.
The November 7 message added a specific development to that earlier account. Ian Gillan said he had undergone a procedure on Friday, November 6, and described it as successful. He did not say what it involved. His account of the outcome came with a clear next step: rest to allow a full recovery before he took on his work again.
For people holding tickets, the wider postponement covers dates in Germany, the Netherlands, France and the United Kingdom. The dates were billed as part of the SPLAT! World Tour, the same run that had been due to visit Leipzig and Hamburg. The itinerary was due to finish at the Royal Albert Hall in London on November 25. The original plan put several more cities between the German dates and that final evening. Once the band made the decision to stop, those shows had to be moved together rather than handled as two isolated changes.
Deep Purple say they are working to find dates on which the affected shows can take place. Their November 2 announcement says tickets already purchased will be valid when the shows are rescheduled. The announcement gives ticket holders something concrete to go on while the group looks for dates. A replacement schedule was still pending at the time of Ian Gillan’s update.
A postponement on that scale involves more than finding a new date for a single venue. Each room has its own bookings and the shows need to fit into a route. The band’s statement described an effort to find a suitable time for the affected appearances. Gillan’s message addressed his part of that process, the time he needs to recover before he can return to work.
The band also had dates listed in Latin America, beginning in São Paulo on December 5 and ending in Mexico City on December 19. At the time of the November 7 message, those appearances remained on the published schedule. Gillan’s account gave no new information about his readiness to travel or perform on those dates. The published itinerary and his recovery update are separate pieces of information.
At 81, the singer was still on the road with Deep Purple when the illness interrupted the European run. The change of pace comes through in the two statements he has made. On November 2, he explained why he had hoped to finish the dates and how the decision to stop had been reached. Five days later, he told listeners what had happened since then and asked for time to recover.
The statements are also a record of what the band could tell audiences at each stage. The immediate concern was getting Ian Gillan to hospital in Leipzig. The next decision concerned the itinerary and the advice he had received. His most recent note is about the procedure and the period of rest that follows it. It supplies one development while leaving the timing of the next one open.
The next useful information for European and British ticket holders will be the revised dates from Deep Purple and the venues involved. For Gillan, the immediate plan is simpler. He said he wanted to make a complete recovery and be as fit as possible before returning to work. That was the priority he put in his message, alongside his thanks to the people waiting to hear what comes next.
