Rod Stewart Falls Ill

Pop-rock music legend Rod Stewart came down with COVID-19 this weekend, forcing him to cancel two concerts at the last minute. Stewart’s staff announced the diagnosis and the cancellations on Instagram on Friday, canceling one show that night in Stateline, Nevada and another on Aug. 10 in Lincoln, California. Stewart still hopes to recover in time for his next show on Aug. 18, but there have been no updates on his condition.

The announcement said that Stewart has caught “a summer strain of COVID-19,” but both canceled shows were quickly rescheduled. The Nevada concert was moved to Aug. 18, and will still be held at the Thunder Valley Casino, while the Nevada show was moved to Aug. 20 and will still be held at the Lake Tahoe Arena at Harveys. The post read: “Ticket holders should hold on to their tickets as they will be honored for the rescheduled shows.” There are on instructions for those who cannot attend the new dates.

These cancellations come hot on the heels of another one last week, which Stewart chalked up to a different illness. When canceling the Aug. 7 performance of his residency at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada, Stewart wrote: “Most people can work with strep throat but obviously not me. I’m absolutely gutted. I’ve been looking forward to this concert for so long. My deepest regret for any inconvenience this has caused.”

That would have been the 200th show in Stewart’s residency, which has continued on and off for 13 years now. It would have been the end of his time at Caesar’s Palace and the beginning of his 2024 North American tour. However, Stewart now has plans to return to his residency in 2025 for “The Encore Shows.” The tour is still on, and no other scheduling changes have been announced besides those listed above.

Stewart is banking on recovering from the virus by Saturday, but it’s hard to say when his illness began or when it might end. The current guidelines from the CDC say that people should not return to their normal activities until they have not had a fever for at least 24 hours without using fever-reducing medication, and their “symptoms have been getting better overall” for at least 24 hours. This is a far cry from the former COVID-19 guidelines which recommended long periods of isolation to stop the spread of the virus. At 79 years old, Stewart is also within the CDC’s high-risk category for COVID-19, as well as other respiratory illnesses.

The latest updates on Stewart’s health and his schedule are on his Instagram page, but other platforms are updated regularly as well. You can find information on his upcoming tour and other concerts on his website.