Korn have shelved their European tour due to the illness of singer Jonathan Davis. The band peformed without him at last weekend’s Download Festival because Davis has immune thrombocytopenic purpura, a condition that affects blood cells.


“I am writing this to thank everyone who called, or emailed me the past few days, believe me, they have been some of the scariest days of my life,” says Davis in a statement on the official Korn website www.korn.com. “I started getting these weird bruises all over my body about 2 weeks ago. I was getting very weak after the shows so I saw a doctor in London on Friday. He took some blood -*test*-('")s and when the results came in they rushed me to the hospital. It turned out that I have ITP, it's too hard to spell, but basically it's a blood infection, where because of an allergic reaction I had to some medication, my blood platelets, the stuff my bone marrow produces to help my blood clot, were really low. I mean way low. Most humans have between 140 and 400 in their cells. I had 5.. no joke... FIVE. If I continued to headbang on stage I could have had a brain hemorrahage and dropped dead on the spot.


“My doctors ordered me to remain at the hospital until they could get my blood in some kind of healthy shape… The doctors are telling me that each day I've been here in the hospital my platelet count has been going up and I should be healthy to play in a few weeks. The doctors have cleared me to walk around a bit but I am unable to perform a show or travel right now. They will know more in a day or two but I want everyone to know that we will do our very best to come back soon to play any dates we are unable to play on this tour.”


The cancellations include all dates up to July 2 and its hoped that the US leg of the tour will continue from July 27.