UPDATED: Willie Nelson Cancels Multiple Shows Due to Undisclosed Health Concerns
***UPDATE: Willie Nelson played a show at the Stafford Centre in Houston Wednesday night (11-16) and “kicked ass” according to opener John Baumann.
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Any time health news comes down for an 83-year-old country performer, concern goes up. For most 83-year-olds, Willie Nelson is the picture of health. But an undisclosed illness has sidelined him for some recent shows, leaving many concerned for the country legend.
On Sunday, November 13th, Willie Nelson canceled his show at the Wagner Noel Performing Arts Center in Midland, Texas because he was feeling “under the weather” according to local reports (see below). It has been confirmed that the show will be rescheduled, though no specific date has been set as of yet.
Then Willie’s show Tuesday, November 15th at the City Bank Auditorium in Lubbock, Texas was also canceled due to health concerns. There is no information at the moment if the date will be rescheduled or not.
The last public appearance Willie Nelson made was on Jimmy Kimmel Live November 10th when he sang Ray Price’s “Heartaches By The Number” from his recent tribute record, For The Good Times: A Tribute to Ray Price. Concern is especially high for Willie Nelson after all of the high profile deaths of country legends, music celebrities, and other famous individuals in 2016.
The last time Willie Nelson canceled multiple shows for undisclosed heath reasons, it was in October of 2015 to have stem cell surgery on his lungs. His next appearance is scheduled for Friday, November 18th at the Golden Nugget in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
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UPDATE #2 (11-19): There are social media rumors swirling that are questioning the legitimacy of this article and that Willie Nelson cancelled any shows, saying that it is either fake news, or a fictitious news story solely posted to generate clicks. Willie Nelson indeed cancelled multiple shows, and health was the reason given by his management.
According to Everything Lubbock on November 15th, “A representative of Select-A-Seat said Tuesday morning that the Willie Nelson concert scheduled for Tuesday evening in Lubbock has been postponed. Nelson was scheduled to perform at the City Bank Auditorium at 8:00 p.m. No new date has been announced by Select-A-Seat. Nelson’s performance Monday evening at the Wagner Noël Performing Arts Center in Midland was also postponed. Officials in Midland said Nelson was suffering from an illness.”
According to CBS News 7 on November 13th, “According to a press release from the Wagner Noël Performing Arts Center, the Willie Nelson concert that was set for this evening has been postponed due to Nelson being ‘under the weather,’ according to sources close to the singer. The Wagner Noël performance will be rescheduled for a later date. Patrons are asked to hold on to their tickets until a new show date has been decided.”
Anyone saying this story is inaccurate, fake news, includes fictitious information, or did not come from reliable sources, is lying. What their motivation for lying about this story is, you’d have to ask them.
Tezca
November 16, 2016 @ 8:32 pm
I hope he gets better soon
Nate
November 16, 2016 @ 9:01 pm
Noooo don’t do this to us 2016. You’ve been cruel enough.
Eduardo Vargas
November 16, 2016 @ 9:34 pm
Prayers to my boy Willie
Biscuit
November 16, 2016 @ 9:53 pm
Even if Willie takes off two nights, I’d bet he performs 10 times more concerts annually than artists half or 1/3rd his age. I have this image in my mind that Wiilie lives on his tour bus and is either recording, smoking or playing a gig at all times. Keep truckin’ Willie!
hoptowntiger94
November 16, 2016 @ 10:53 pm
That’s why I’m trying to see him as many times as my wallet allows. 3X last year: 4th of July, Farm Aid, and Outlaw Fest!
Clay
November 16, 2016 @ 10:56 pm
He played stafford Texas tonight.
Trigger
November 16, 2016 @ 11:11 pm
Yes, it says that up above. The story was updated. Apparently since the show tonight was sold out, they took it off Willie’s website, calendar, and did not promote it so there was no record Willie was playing a show tonight aside from the venue itself. Glad Willie is doing better!
J.marina
November 17, 2016 @ 2:50 am
If your feeling ill blend up 5 slices of gingerroot with your favorite fruit and drink morning and at nite and it will help a lot, and we love to pick and grin that great music, I haven’t made it to texas yet but hope to soon.
K. Smith
November 17, 2016 @ 6:28 am
Yeah, he needs to get better soon, after all he has to open for Shania Twain at Stagecoach next year! I know, wrong on so many levels but I just can’t accept Willie as an opening act. In my opinion she isn’t even worthy of carrying his guitar. Sorry got off topic. Long live Willie! When he dies, they should put him in The Smithsonian as he is a national treasure!
Jim
November 17, 2016 @ 8:26 am
Hope he gets better soon.
I checked out the video of him doing “Heartaches By The Number” on Kimmel – fantastic!
Pat Butcher
November 17, 2016 @ 9:54 am
Don’t leave us Willie. There is no one on this earth as talented. My prayers for your recovery. You need to relax and rest.
William Digiovanni
November 17, 2016 @ 12:04 pm
In my opinion will lie Nelson is a valued member of country music and needs to keep up the good work he’s doing he’s the best there is all my hopes for a speedy recovery
DJ
November 17, 2016 @ 3:22 pm
The Brittanica Encyclopedia should have a wandering minstrel section using Willie’s life story as its only entry.
Alan morton
November 18, 2016 @ 9:01 am
Get well soon willie
BlondeHeadedStranger
November 19, 2016 @ 8:08 am
When we lose Willie – hopefully not for a long, long time – who’s gonna Make Country Music Great Again. Still proudly display my Willie for President bumper sticker. Simply the best!!!
Leslie
November 19, 2016 @ 9:55 am
I’m curious who these ‘local reports’ stem from? When I 1st read this I was concerned, so I called a friend who knows Willie. He hadn’t heard anything, so he checked with a family member and they said it was just managerial issues. I very much hope that’s true. Obviously news is news, and you’ve got reason to report it, but I’d be curious about the source of this information. A good reminder to not immediately believe what you read! Especially in this forsaken year of shit.
Trigger
November 19, 2016 @ 10:56 am
Leslie,
Willie Nelson canceled multiple shows. This is a fact. The reason given for the cancellations by Willie Nelson’s management was heath. Whether Willie Nelson’s management is lying and it was a scheduling snafu instead of health issues, I don’t know. But he did cancel shows.
This is the update I just posted to the story as these continued social media driven rumors continue:
There are social media rumors swirling that are questioning the legitimacy of this article and that Willie Nelson cancelled any shows, saying that it is either fake news, or a fictitious news story solely posted to generate clicks. Willie Nelson indeed cancelled multiple shows, and health was the reason given by his management.
According to Everything Lubbock on November 15th,
http://www.everythinglubbock.com/news/local-news/willie-nelson-postponed-concert-tuesday-night-in-lubbock
“A representative of Select-A-Seat said Tuesday morning that the Willie Nelson concert scheduled for Tuesday evening in Lubbock has been postponed. Nelson was scheduled to perform at the City Bank Auditorium at 8:00 p.m. No new date has been announced by Select-A-Seat. Nelson’s performance Monday evening at the Wagner Noël Performing Arts Center in Midland was also postponed. Officials in Midland said Nelson was suffering from an illness.”
According to CBS News 7 on November 13th,
http://www.cbs7.com/content/news/Willie-Nelson-concert-postponed-at-Wagner-Noel.html
“According to a press release from the Wagner Noël Performing Arts Center, the Willie Nelson concert that was set for this evening has been postponed due to Nelson being ‘under the weather,’ according to sources close to the singer. The Wagner Noël performance will be rescheduled for a later date. Patrons are asked to hold on to their tickets until a new show date has been decided.”
Anyone saying this story is inaccurate, fake news, includes fictitious information, or did not come from reliable sources, is lying. What their motivation for lying about this story is, you’d have to ask them.
Leslie
November 19, 2016 @ 11:43 am
I certainly wasn’t saying that shows weren’t cancelled, or that you were knowingly reporting anything false. Obviously, there was a source, and this news was made public and you were simply passing it on, as is your job. I was just curious who the source was. In light of so many dearly departed musical greats, and the chaos of our times, I was also just wanting to report what I had heard via family, to give some relief hopefully to those who were worried. Someone is spreading false info though, and that’s unfortunate. We need less, not more, to worry about!
Trigger
November 19, 2016 @ 12:06 pm
Folks,
I’m really frustrated that I have to address this situation in long form, but here some four days after this story was posted, the continued misnomer that this article is either wrong, a fake news story, contains fictitious information, was posted solely for clicks, or plays fast and loose with the facts has frankly gotten under my skin, and I pray that I can steady my hand enough to type what I have to say.
First off, Willie Nelson canceled multiple shows, and all the assholes on Twitter and Facebook combined telling you otherwise can’t through their collective will change that from fact to fiction. This truth has been corroborated by multiple named sources, including the venues where the cancellations occurred, local media outlets, and the fans who were either turned away at the door, or received notifications for their ticket brokers that these shows were canceled. Anyone telling you otherwise is lying.
Over 25 major country and music media outlets reported this fact earlier this week. Saving Country Music was one of the LAST to report on this story. Why? Because I had personally reached out to the Willie Nelson camp to confirm the situation, and to see if there was any additional information that could be given to the public, and was waiting for their response, DESPITE what some are saying about my reporting by characterizing that I did not reach out to the Willie Nelson camp. Unfortunately those requests by myself and other media outlets went unanswered. So after the information was already out there in the public through dozens of other media outlets, and feeling like there was no chance for any additional information to be added to the story, I posted my story on the Willie Nelson cancellations.
Really my primary motivation for posting the story was I didn’t want to be conspicuous about ignoring a story dealing with health issues concerning Willie Nelson. At the time, I didn’t think anyone would read, share, like, or even care about it. Why? Because it was old news.
When putting together my story, I also researched when Willie Nelson would be playing his next show. According to his website, his calendar, his Facebook pages, and his other social network properties, Willie Nelson’s next show was in Louisiana. I had also asked Willie’s management when he would play his next show, but of course that request for information went unanswered, as did other outlet’s requests. So when posting this story on Wednesday, I did not include the information that Willie was playing a show Wednesday night. This was a fact that SHOULD have been included, and for that I apologize. But in the defense of myself, and the dozens of other outlets that reported on this story and also did not include the information about the Wednesday show, it would have been impossible for any of us to know about it unless we somehow personally knew about the show, meaning had tickets to it, planned to attend, etc. Again, there was no record of that show on Willie Nelson’s website and social properties. Why? I have no idea.
Nonetheless, as SOON as I found out that Willie Nelson played a show Wednesday night, and within the hour of posting this article, that information was added to the article at the very top in an update, posted in BOLD print, and “UPDATED” was added to the title of the article. But understand, the fact that Willie Nelson played a show Wednesday night does not change the fact that he did NOT play multiple shows earlier in the week, and that health concerns were the reasons given for those cancellations. So even though the Wednesday show was an important part of the greater story, that doesn’t change the facts of the story one iota, it just adds to them. That is why the story wasn’t deleted or retracted. Furthermore, retracting the story would have not help spread the word that Willie Nelson had indeed returned to the stage and was feeling better.
Unfortunately though, a few social media warriors decided that the story was “click bait,” which is funny because many of these folks did not take the time to actually click on the story themselves and see that it had been updated. Instead, they accused Saving Country Music of embellishing the story. But as their own behavior revealed, MOST people don’t even click on stories like this. They may like, share, or comment on social media, but very few folks click. That’s why you see so many content farms posting click-baity headlines these days like “Country Legend Suffering From Serious Health Ailment. Please Pray!”
The idea that Saving Country Music attempted to exploit Willie Nelson’s health for clicks is an irresponsible accusation, and is being made by folks who hate Saving Country Music, and are looking to hopefully erode the integrity of this website’s reporting.
Also, there are many rumors swirling on social media that Willie Nelson was never sick, and that this information is coming from Willie Nelson’s family. I can’t confirm or deny that, but what it does speak to is the information vacuum and misinformation that revealed itself around Willie Nelson’s recent tour schedule. Why wasn’t the media notified about the Willie Nelson’s cancellations? Why were certain dates on his calendar removed from his website and social properties, or never posted to it? I really have no idea, but the media can’t be blamed for this.
I could throw my big corporate competitors like Taste of Country and The Boot under the bus for reporting on this story as well, and NOT updating about the show Willie Nelson played Wednesday night, but frankly it’s not their fault. Sure, every website needs to draw traffic or they can’t survive. But I don’t question anyone’s motivation of posting about health concerns for Willie Nelson, and neither should you.
Saving Country Music sometimes posts highly inflammatory opinions that are controversial and create acrimony with certain individuals or entities. It is my job, and imperative to the integrity of the website, that the opinions of others don’t get factored into this criticism. Saving Country Music is not a popularity contest. It specializes in tough, but thoughtful and constructive criticism. However when it comes to reporting facts in news stories, they are accurate. On the very rare case that a mistake is made in a news story, this information is clarified. And if updated information is needed, as was the case of the Willie Nelson story, this is always added.
I am human just like everyone else, and sometimes typos get through, or other issues arise. But with this Willie Nelson story, nothing was reported inaccurately, wrongly, or otherwise embellished to stimulate clicks. Anyone telling you otherwise is lying, and likely has an agenda.
The good news here is that Willie Nelson is out there again playing shows, and that’s what we should all be focusing on.
kirk
February 10, 2017 @ 1:45 pm
donald trump sings just as well.
give both your heroes credit.
as everyone knows your donald was his back up singer
mark
February 15, 2017 @ 6:42 am
I saw Willie Nov 18, and did not see this story until after that show. Having seen home a number of times, I knew from the moment he stepped on stage was not obviously not feeling well. Since then I’v seen he’s canceled more shows in 2017 due to illness.
Vicki Barlow
February 20, 2017 @ 7:03 pm
I have Listen to Willie Nelson songs ever since I went to little and I just love his music and I hope he gets well soon we all love you Willie Nelson
God Bless you
Love Vicki Barlow
Julie & Artie Bell
February 26, 2017 @ 10:27 pm
Get well soon Willie Nelson. You are in everyone’s prayers! Big Hugs to you!!!
spiros varthalamis
March 23, 2017 @ 12:29 pm
We hope willie get better ,if he is sick, our favor song is “to all the girls i love” get well soon willie,love spiros.
Steve Davis
August 14, 2017 @ 7:24 pm
You no Willie, it’s been fun as hell riding around with you and Kris, John, Waylon, and well hell everyones been there, us fans your crew, now buddy maybe it’s time to slow down a little and enjoy what U got left. We all will miss the shows but still love you wait a min. i flop 3A’s got 2 go peace and good health
shirley
December 15, 2018 @ 11:00 am
Willie’s 85, where does the 83 come up?
The Lord wants Willie here for many more years. Praise the Lord.
Trigger
December 15, 2018 @ 2:39 pm
This article was published two years ago.
Shirley Joslin
December 15, 2018 @ 4:44 pm
Thanks for info…………..Willie’s the greatest, next to or right up there with “Frank” S.
Hope to see him at strawberry festival. time will tell………..shirley