Belle and Sebastian has canceled its spring North American tour while frontman Stuart Murdoch deals with health issues related to a longtime struggle with chronic fatigue syndrome. The outing was scheduled to begin April 24 in Mexico and follows the cancellation of a planned U.K., Europe, and South American tour last fall.
“As you might be aware my health took a dive around November 2022,” Murdoch wrote on Instagram. “While I am hoping that I will improve over the coming months, we felt it would be a safer route to cancel this tour and leave a clear path to recovery, rather than take a risk and have to cancel at the last minute. We had a great plan in place, to release our second LP in six months and hit America up again! While the record made it out, we’re going to have to wait a bit longer until we can tour it.”
Murdoch was referring to Late Developers, which was surprise-released by Matador on Jan. 13. The project arrived on the heels of last May’s A Bit of Previous, which was Belle and Sebastian’s first album in seven years.
Murdoch was diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis more than two decades ago, before starting Belle and Sebastian. Over the years, he’s referenced it in both his music and in interviews. “I’m the boring one who sneaks back to the hotel and gets into the bath … perhaps as soon as the concert is over,” he told CNN in 2018. “I’m going to feel sick, and I’m going to look like an invalid for the next 24 hours.”
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