Just one week before the planned kick-off of a headlining U.S. tour with Fear Factory, Twizted and Black Satellite, hard rockers Coal Chamber were forced to postpone the outing following singer Dez Fafara’s emergency hospitalization over the weekend.

The 58-year-old vocalist apologized to fans in a lengthy statement about having to press pause on the Fiend of the Fans tour — scheduled to launch on Friday (August 23) in Las Vegas and run through a Sept. 29 show in Denver — but said a recent unspecified health crisis forced his hand.

“With a heavy heart, let me tell you a story about life taking a turn, I’m writing to you from my bed. I’ve been running 6 miles daily, I’ve been rehearsing two hours daily in my home studio and excited to hit the road, I’m excited to get on a bus with my brothers and sister and my crew. I’ d never felt better and as you all know, I fought back hard after long haul COVID tried to kill me,” Fafara wrote in the post.

“Saturday morning I woke up and I was coming up my stairs. I saw flashes in my eyes. I passed out and my wife revived me. My vitals were through the roof, and I was sheet white and vomiting, and the whole world was spinning,” he continued. “[My wife] Anahstasia called 911. I ended up in the back of an ambulance and did nine hours in the ER testing all my vitals including taking X-rays of my heart and lungs. My doctor has advised me to get a cat scan, and until further testing, I am on bedrest and must postpone the Tour. Our agent sprung into action to rebook this tour for March 2025, and until we can figure out what the f–k medically is happening.”

Fafara said the tour is now scheduled to hit the road in March 2025 under the same name. “This tour postponement is surreal, I was looking forward to playing with my band and connecting with fans, friends and family on the road,” Fafara wrote. “I want to take a moment to thank everybody for their outpouring of love and outpouring of calls and texts checking on me. It seems like the word spread and the whole industry has been ringing my phone since Sunday; musicians, agents and managers and I really really appreciate it.”

As of now, the re-routed outing will begin with a March 5 show at the Summit in Denver and run through an April 18 gig at the Myth Live in Maplewood, MN.

Fafara ended his note with an uplifting message about resilience and an promise to keep fans in the loop on developments. “Kiss your loved ones, no one is promised tomorrow. I’ll fight my way back to be with you all onstage you can be sure of that as well I’ll keep you all updated on my socials as to what’s going on,” the singer said. “Apologies if this news causes you to rearrange your schedules to attend the concert with us and I want to say thank you in advance. We are all truly in the dark and I’m looking forward to finding out what’s going on. HAIL.”

See Fafara’s post and the rescheduled tour dates below.

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Attending your first Taylor Swift show is always a big deal. But for Nobel Peace Prize winner and girls’ education activist Malala Yousafzai, seeing an Eras Tour show in London over the weekend was a milestone for much deeper reasons.

The 27-year-old Pakistani activist who has been a vocal advocate for human rights and the education of women and girls for more than a decade posted a moving story on Instagram on Saturday (August 17) describing the emotions she was feeling while attending the show with her husband and some of her oldest friends.

“One of my favorite memories from Swat Valley is a field trip I took in middle school with my best friend, Moniba (second photo, on the left). Giggling, we went to a waterfall hidden away in a lush green mountain. We were so excited because we were finally allowed to go to school again and could be outdoors with our friends, laughing and singing together,” wrote Yousafzai, who grew up in Pakistan under repressive Taliban rule that included bans on music and television, as well as a bar on girls going to school.

“Having lived through a time where music and art were banned, music felt like a gift,” she continued. “Moniba and I found the highest rock we could, climbed on top of it and announced to all of our classmates and teachers we were going to perform our new favourite song called ‘LOVE STORY.’ We sang with all of our heart, taking in the joy we felt every second. That’s where my Swiftie journey began. It feels magical that my first-ever proper concert would be to see @TaylorSwift, singing along to every song surrounded by friends.”

Yousafzai, 27, whose story became international news when she and two other girls were shot by a Taliban gunman in Oct. 2012 in an assassination attempt, used her post to once again spotlight the repressive nature of Taliban rule and the disturbing backsliding on human rights that she said has occurred over the past few years.

“Three years ago, the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan. Once again, music no longer plays on the streets, and girls and women are barred from school, work and public life,” Yousafzai said. “In Swat, music made my friends and me feel confident and free. And one day I hope we will live in a world where every girl will be able to enjoy music and live out her wildest dreams. 💖”

In addition to a photo with her husband, Asser Malik, with the packed Wembley Stadium in the background, Yousafzai’s photo roll included the snap with her childhood best friend, another of her making a hand heart and pics of her crew’s friendship bracelets.

Swift is in the midst of a five-night run at London’s Wembley Stadium, with two more shows slated for Monday (August 19) and Tuesday night (August 20). The shows took place after Swift was forced to cancel a planned string of three shows in Vienna due to a terror plot aimed at attacking fans gathered outside the stadium. Two Austrian teenagers have been arrested in the case and a third was detained for questioning.

Check out Malala’s post below.

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Playing a second show in the same city is usually a guarantee for special moments from Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.

And that was certainly the case on Sunday night as the New Jersey rock icon and his heart-stoppin’, house-rockin’, booty-shakin’ – you know the drill – ensemble played the second night of its latest North American tour leg at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.

Following up on its Thursday (Aug. 15) performance, Springsteen and company, 18 members strong, played with its usual earth-quaking exuberance, delivering 29 songs over the course of three hours and 10 minutes, making some significant changes to the set, tossing in a warm memorial to a fallen colleague and welcoming a guest to the proceedings.

The group was nicely rested after a nearly three-week break following its spring/summer European trek but still sharp and hot from being on the road since February of 2023 – with, of course, one notable break.

The Pittsburgh shows kicked off a kind of make-up leg for the E Streeters, coming back for shows that were postponed in the spring and fall of 2023 due to illnesses, including a peptic ulcer that Springsteen described as “a mother***er” at the opening show.

On Sunday, before closing with the solo acoustic “I’ll See You in My Dreams,” he told the capacity PPG crowd, “I hope we didn’t inconvenience with you too much with our postponements. It’s just great to be back here. You’re just a fabulous audience for us. Thank you so much.”

The Pittsburgh stand was a rare two-nighter in North American arenas for Springsteen on this tour, though he’ll do the same in Philadelphia on Aug. 21 and 23 and Toronto on Nov. 3 and 6.

This leg wraps up Nov. 22 in Vancouver, while some European make-up dates are slated for next May, June and July – with enough space between them to fuel anticipation for more shows to be added.

And E Streeter Steven Van Zandt only stoked those hopes when he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette before the shows that,” Just between you and me….I don’t see any end in sight. We’re better than ever; you’re gonna see what I mean this week. These five-year farewell tours people are doing are really hilarious. We’re not gonna start our first farewell tour for another 10 years.”

And if Springsteen and crew can keep delivering magic moments like this, who would want to see them stop any time through…

Shakin’ It Up
After some fans criticized the first leg of the tour for its unusually similar set lists, Springsteen has loosened things up – particularly during the European dates.

That spirit was reflected during night two in Pittsburgh, which featured nine different selections, including seven of the night’s first nine songs. The night opened with a pair of Darkness on the Edge of Town songs. – “Candy’s Room” and “Adam Raised a Cain,” and later the title song.

Particularly welcome, meanwhile, were a riotous, revival-flavored “Spirit in the Night,” with Springsteen and saxophonist Jake Clemons mugging at the front of the stage, and “If I Was a Priest,” in only its sixth performance of the tour. “Death to My Hometown,” meanwhile, was an astute nod to the Steel City’s rust belt history and renaissance. “I’m on Fire” was another surprise late-show inclusion, but seemingly came at the expense of “Rosalita,” which has been a staple of the encores.

Speaking Of Which…
Springsteen and the band did not walk off after “Thunder Road,” choosing instead to go straight into the usual encore lineup of “Born to Run,” “Glory Days” (note the high school baseball layer friend now throws a “spitball” rather than a “speedball”), “Dancing in the Dark” and “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” before…

A Special Guest
Pittsburgh rocker and longtime Springsteen friend Joe Grushecky was in the house on Sunday with his family and then on the stage with the E Street Band during an encore rendition of the Isley Brothers’ “Twist & Shout,” playing acoustic guitar and singing backing vocals into the same microphone as Van Zandt and bassist Garry Tallent.

During part of the song’s schtick Springsteen told the crowd it looked “a little bushed” and ready to go home.

He asked Grushecky, “Is this the way a Pittsburgh crowd looks when they’re wiped out, or when they’re ready to rock their asses off all night?,” to which the Iron City’s own houserocker replied, “I don’t think they’re ready to go home yet. I think they’re ready to rock!”

Among their many collaborations Springsteen produced Grushecky and his band the Houserocker’s 1995 album American Babylon and made a guest appearance on Grushecky’s 2006 solo album, A Good Life.

A Moving Tribute
After posting a social media message addressing the Aug. 9 passing of journalist and author Charles Cross – co-founder of the Backstreets fan magazine, Springsteen dedicated that song to him, telling the crowd that, “This is for a friend of ours, Charles Cross, the founder of Backstreets magazine and his great writing and his influence and his help in communicating between our band and our fans will be sorely missed. This is for Charles.”

Springsteen held his guitar high above his head, towards the heavens, in salute.

Party Favors
Springsteen was in a giving mood, materially as well as musically, on Sunday. He played his closing harmonica solo during “The Promised Land” directly to a young fan sitting on her father’s shoulders near the front of the stage, then gave her the harp.

He handed two other harmonicas to fans after “She’s the One” and “Thunder Road” and distributed a selection of guitar picks towards the end of “Darlington County.”

E Street Guitar Army
Springsteen, per usual, handled most of the guitar solos during the show, but also tossed the ball to the able axemen who flanked him on stage. Van Zandt scorched some earth at the end of “If I Was the Priest,” while Nils Lofgren tore it up with epic six-string excursions during “Youngstown” and “Because the Night.”

Out in the Seats
Springsteen made one sojourn into the crowd on Sunday, walking to a platform near the middle of the house during “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out”, where he pressed flesh and accepted a drink while performing the song.

It also served as a tribute to departed E Street members Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici, with footage of both shown on the video screens.

We Are But Mortal
Springsteen has been doing it since the beginning of the tour, but his speech before “Last Man Standing” – about the death of his longtime friend and ’60s bandmate George Theiss and being, literally, the last surviving member still alive from the Castiles – was still moving and inspiring, even tear-jerking: “As you get older, death brings with it a certain sort of clarity. Its lasting gift to us is an expanded vision of living this life, every day…And the grief, the grief that we feel when our loved ones leave us, it’s just the price that we pay for having loved well. “

By the Numbers
For those counting, the Born to Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town albums were the most represented with five songs each, followed by Born in the U.S.A. and Letter to You with four each.

In all Springsteen played songs from 11 of his 21 albums, including his cover of the Commodores’ “Nightshift” from the most recent, 2022’s Only the Strong Survive.

Chase & Status have claimed their first-ever U.K. No. 1 single on the Official U.K. Charts with “BACKBONE,” a DnB-heavy collaboration featuring Stormzy.

For Stormzy, this track marks his fourth time topping the charts, following his previous hits “Vossi Bop” (2019), “Take Me Back to London” with Ed Sheeran (2019), and “Own It” with Ed Sheeran and Burna Boy (2020).

Reacting to the major achievement, the British electronic duo told Official U.K Charts: “We knew that connecting with Stormzy was going to create something special, but we didn’t expect a KO reaction like this. To see him running out at our show at The Milton Keynes Bowl, in his best man’s suit—straight from a wedding and in front of 45,000 people—was insane! One of the greatest British MCs to ever do it, spitting over DnB & for it to go straight into No. 1? It couldn’t get any better for us.”

“BACKBONE” dominated the charts this week, racking up 6.4 million streams to secure the top spot.

Billie Eilish’s “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” also made waves, returning to its previous peak at No. 2. Her recent collaboration with Charli XCX, “Guess,” held strong in the Top 5 at No. 4, while another track, “WILDFLOWER,” continued its steady climb, now sitting at No. 36.

In the dance music scene, “Kisses” by Bl3ss, CamrinWatsin, and bbyclose moved up to No. 6, securing its place as a standout hit of the summer.

JADE re-entered the U.K. Top 10 with “Angel Of My Dreams,” which soared eight spots to No. 10, thanks to the release of its “S.A.D (sad. angelic. dramatic.) Version”‘. The achievement makes her the first Little Mix alum to have a solo single spend two weeks in the Top 10.

Just outside the Top 10, “Move” by Adam Port, Stryv, and KeineMusik climbed to a new peak at No. 11, while Chappell Roan’s “HOT TO GO” rose to No. 12, with another track, “Red Wine Supernova,” reaching No. 31.

In the U.K. Top 20, Sonny Fodera, Jazzy, and D.O.D’s “Somedays” made a significant jump to No. 19, and Indian rapper Hanumankind, along with producer Kalmi, saw their track “Big Dawgs” rise to No. 21.

Madonna’s classic hit “Like A Prayer” made a return to the U.K. Top 40 at No. 27, thanks to its feature in the new blockbuster Deadpool & Wolverine. Originally released in 1989, the song spent three weeks at No. 1 and now enjoys its 10th week inside the Top 40, just in time for Madonna’s 66th birthday.

Other notable movements include Calvin Harris & Ellie Goulding’s “Free,” which reached No. 35, and Gracie Abrams securing her third Top 40 single with “I love you, I’m sorry” at No. 38.