Depeche Mode

Depeche Mode have revealed that singer Dave Gahan successfully underwent surgery to remove a tumor from his bladder and the band’s Tour of the Universe will resume on June 8th. Gahan was rushed to the hospital before concert in Athens, Greece on May 12th after suffering a severe bout of gastroenteritis. While the frontman was in the hospital, further tests revealed what’s described as a “low-grade malignant tumor,” according to a new statement on their Website .

Doctors have ordered Gahan to take a break until June 8th, so several more concerts on the Depeche Mode tour have been postponed. A May 30th show at London’s O2 Arena has been pushed back to an unspecified date, and as some of Depeche’s rescheduled shows have been booked for early July, it’s looking like the band will have to squeeze in a performance during an off-night of Michael Jackson’s 50-show “This Is It” run at the venue.

Depeche Mode’s slot at the Pinkpop Festival in Holland on May 31st has been canceled. The June 2nd show in Hamburg, Germany has been rescheduled for July 1st. Additionally, the June 4th and 5th concerts in Dusseldorf, Germany are delayed until the city’s 2nd Bundesliga soccer team announces their new schedule, and while the June 8th show in Leipzig, Germany marks the return of the Tour of the Universe, the June 7th show in the same city has been canceled outright.

After that, the tour resumes as scheduled, except for a July 2nd Bergen, Norway show that’s been rescheduled until January 2010. As for those nine previously postponed shows , Depeche said, “Every effort continues to be made to reschedule these shows and more time is needed to resolve venue availability and routing. A final decision is expected early next week, at which time a statement will be made with regards to either a rescheduled date or final cancellation.”

Depeche Mode head to North America on July 24th with a show in Toronto and will headline one night of this year’s Lollapalooza festival in Chicago.

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• Depeche Mode Cancel Three More Shows, Bringing Total to Nine

Well. I trust the real fans will continue to wish the guy well, and respect the professionalism of someone who goes back on tour in a matter of days after undergoing major surgery; while the sad, brainless no-lifers who’ve been writing junk about how obvious it is that he’s lying about being clean can happily choke on their own bullshit. Not only is the guy one of the very best performers in music history - he is also a human being and some of the stuff that haters of the band have been writing about him all over forums is just bloody indecent. I guess there must be something particularly gratifying for any self-respecting asshole in making statements such as “every rock star is a junkie” (how sharply analyzed) or “you bunch of gahan-lovers just can’t admit the truth” (how profoundly insightful). Then again it should hardly be a surprise that scum thrives on spreading scum.