The Busted vs McFly tour opened last week but James Bourne hasn’t joined his bandmates Matt Willis and Charlie Simpson after saying he wasn’t in ‘good enough health’
Busted’s Matt Willis has paid tribute to bandmate James Bourne again amid his absence from the band’s latest tour. It comes after it was announced earlier this month that the guitarist had pulled out of the concerts due to his health.
James, 42, revealed that he was “not in good enough health” to join his bandmates Matt, 42, and Charlie Simpson, 40, on the Busted vs McFly tour the day before its opening night in Birmingham last Tuesday. It was later announced that his brother Chris Bourne would be stepping in for him.
Matt spoke about James’ absence during the first gig last week. He has since brought his bandmate up again, with him seen paying tribute and sharing an update in footage from a more recent show that’s been shared on social media.
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In the video shared by TikTok user @smarshie.07, said to have been taken at the OVO Arena Wembley, Matt told fans: “Mr James Bourne is really f***ing sick and we love him so much and we miss him.” As his voice broke, he began to say: “So we talked to him, we said …”
Matt was met with cheers from the audience at the venue before continuining his speech. He told the crowd at the gig: “We talked to him and we said ‘mate, what do we do, man? Do we pull out of this? What the f*** do we do?’ And he said ‘no, I want you to keep playing the shows’.”
The musician went on to suggest that the band, which includes drummer Eddy Thrower for the tour, would need another guitarist to replace James. Matt said: “We’re like ‘okay’ but there’s only three of us now, and we’re like ‘we’re gonna need someone else to play guitar, right’.”
Charlie then teased: “He said ‘anyone but McFly, anyone’.” Matt went on to tell fans: “We came up with some suggestions and he went ‘what about my little brother Chris comes and plays with you?’ And we’re like ‘hell yeah!'”
After fans were reminded that Chris was in the Year 3000 music video, he was brought onto the stage, with Matt introducing him to the audience. James’ brother was met with cheers from the crowd after joining Matt and Charlie.
Matt had given a similar speech at Busted’s first gig on their tour with McFly last week. He told fans at the bp pulse LIVE arena: “You may have noticed our best friend is not here tonight. [James] is really f***ing sick and we love him and we miss him.”
He also told the crowd on opening night: “This is the first show we’ve ever played without him and it’s really weird.” Matt added: “But we’re gonna do the best we can.” He then spoke about replacing James before introducing Chris.
In a statement last week, before the first show, James said: “The VS tour kicks off tomorrow night in Birmingham and as excited as l’ve been all year for this tour to begin, I’m really sorry to say that over the last 8 days it has become clear that I am not in good enough health to play these shows.”
He added: “There’s a lot of information I still don’t have about my condition but my bandmates, management and I are unanimous in deciding that I should focus on the medical stuff for now. I really hope I can be in a position to come back further down the line. It’s still going to be an amazing show and I will miss being there! See you all as soon as possible.”
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