Pop Duo Cancels Upcoming Show After Band Member Collapsed Onstage, Fan Says ‘It Felt Like Torture Watching That’

An Australian pop duo has canceled a show after one of the band members collapsed onstage. 

Royel Otis, consisting of musicians Royel Maddell and Otis Pavlovic, canceled their Aug. 17 appearance at the Lowlands + Pukkelpop festival in Belgium, Germany. A few days prior, on Aug. 15, Maddell collapsed onstage at the MS Dockville festival in Hamburg, Germany. 

The day after the fall, the band shared a statement on their Instagram Stories announcing the cancellation. “We are really sorry to say that we need to cancel our set at Lowlands + Pukkelpop festival as Roy has been unwell with a virus since last night’s show in Hamburg,” they said, per a screenshot on Reddit. 

The statement continued: “We were really looking forward to playing for you and hope we can see you at one of our other shows soon.”

“Thank you for all your support always,” the band added.

PEOPLE reached out to Royel Otis’s management, but did not immediately hear back.

Fans recounted the shocking fall in Belgium on the Royel Otis forum on Reddit. One audience member, who said they were watching the show from the fourth row, recalled Maddell falling and rushing off the stage after the band finished their third song. 

The person said the band started playing “some jazz stuff” during the incident, and then a privacy screen went up. 

The Reddit user claimed that Maddell was then carried back onstage by “two or three people,” and appeared to be visibly shaking as they played the next song. “It felt like torture watching that,” they wrote. 

Another user said, “It was really weird seeing him coming back, obviously shaken up after he already broke down running back to the rest of the team. It seemed like they wanted him to sit down when he made his way to the front, but he went back to the mic.”

Royel Otis released their debut studio album, Pratts & Prain, in February 2024. The LP features the singles “Adored” and “Fried Rice.” The band’s sophomore album, Hickey, is set to be released on Aug. 22. 

The duo canceled six shows on their North American tour in November 2024 because of an emergency in Maddell’s family, according to the Daily Mail.

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The outlet reported that the musician wrote in a statement to fans at the time, “Hello. Roy here. It feels like there is such a huge amount of stones stuffed into my heart right now having to say this. I am currently experiencing some devastating family matters that I need to be home for.”

He continued to say that “there is no choice now and I need to be in Sydney.”

Royel Otis is expected to next perform at the Reading Festival in Reading and Berkshire and the Leeds Festival in Leeds before touring North America. The band has stops planned in Philadelphia, New York City, Atlanta, Toronto and other cities, through October.