The former One Direction member Liam Payne has postponed his Latin American tour after being hospitalized with “a serious kidney infection”.
“It’s with a heavy heart I have to tell you that we have no other choice but to postpone my upcoming tour of South America,” the 29-year-old singer wrote in an Instagram caption for a video in which he directly addressed fans. “Over the past week I’ve been in hospital with a serious kidney infection, it’s something I wouldn’t wish on anyone, and doctors orders are that I now need to rest and recover.”
“I was beyond excited to come play for you guys,” he continued. “To all of you who have bought tickets: I’m so sorry. We’re working to re-schedule the tour as soon as we possibly can, but for now we will be refunding the tickets – so please look out for updates from your point of purchase. Thanks as always for the love and support, and look forward to seeing you soon.”
In the video, Payne said he had begun rehearsals for the tour, set to kick off in Lima, Peru, on 1 September, but had been “a little bit unwell recently” and “ended up in the hospital with a bad kidney infection”.
“I’ve just been advised that now is really not the time to be out on the road trying to recover from this,” he added. He promised “hopefully an even bigger, better show” for rescheduled dates, which would have included Colombia, Chile, Brazil and Argentina before wrapping in Mexico on 12 September.
Payne, who has not released a full album since 2019’s LP1, has said the tour is part of a return to music, with a new album in the works. “I’ve been making an album for a change, which is quite fun,” he said in an interview with iFL TV in May. “It’s been good, I’m excited to bring it out, and I definitely want to tour this time, which is unusual. Because, I wasn’t sure I was going to tour for a long time. I was kind of over it a little bit, but I’m really excited to get back out on the road and go and see all the fans. It’s gonna be fun.”
Payne was a member of One Direction from 2010 until the band went on indefinite hiatus in January 2016, during which time the band embarked on four world tours, including two all-stadium tours. In addition to LP1, Payne partnered with Alesso in 2020 for an EP called Midnight Hour and released a single, Sunshine, in 2021 as part of the soundtrack for the animated film Ron’s Gone Wrong.
