DeLillos, one of Norway’s most popular bands, has had to cancel all its summer concerts after lead vocalist Lars Lillo-Stenberg suffered a heart attack and remains in the hospital. Now he’ll need to follow the lyrics of one of the band’s iconic songs and be “tough in pajamas.”
The concert cancellations are a huge disappointment to their organizers, thousands of fans, the band and Lillo-Stenberg himself, who already had launched into the summer festival season. The lyrics of several DeLillos songs make them especially popular in the summer, not least one entitled Neste sommer (Next summer).
The band sent out a message that Lillo-Stenberg, who turned 54 just last week, was awaiting an operation and that he was in relatively “good form” under the circumstances. “We’re glad that this (his heart ailment) was discovered early instead of at a later and much more critical point in time,” the band wrote. Since the recuperation time after such an operation is normally up to eight weeks, deLillos’ entire summer tour “has to be cancelled” along with Lars’ solo concerts, the band added.
“We had looked forward to meet our public enormously this summer and think this is terribly sad,” the band wrote. “But we are certain we’ll come back strongly in connection with our new album release this fall.”
DeLillos had nine concerts left on its summer tour, including an appearance at the Buktafestival in Tromsø on July 23, Paradise Live in Farsund July 19 and the annual wooden boat festival (Trebåtfestivalen) in Risør. “Now we just hope things go well for Lillo-Stenberg, that he comes back without any lasting effects,” Robert Dyrnes, booking chief at Buktafestivalen told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK).
Kari-Anne Røisland, chief of Trebåtfestivalen, said it was sad to hear Lillo-Stenberg was ill. “We wish him a speedy recovery and hope he’s on his feet again as soon possible, that’s the most important,” Røisland told NRK.
The band agreed. “As far as all the festivals go, there’s just one thing to say,” they wrote. “NEXT SUMMER.”
newsinenglish.no/Nina Berglund
