Bad news for Avicii fans in the UAE — the Swedish DJ will no longer be performing on April 4 at Atlantis, organisers confirmed on Monday.
The EDM star, lesser known by his name Tim Bergling, woke up with sharp pains on March 26 after flying into Miami for his Ultra Live Festival appearances in the city that weekend. He was forced to axe the shows after having both his gall bladder and a ruptured appendix removed in surgery.
Organisers for the Live@Atlantis concert series said all online ticket holders who have not collected their physical tickets will be refunded automatically by the online ticket partners. Those guests who bought or collected physical tickets should return the physical ticket to the same ticket vendor in order to be refunded. Table bookers will be contacted directly, it added.
Bergling took to Twitter to express regret over the forced cancellations.
“It’s a routine procedure and all going well, I expect to be fully recovered and back on my feet in time for my US True Tour [kicking off in Boston on April 10],” he wrote. “Now I feel like s*** but at least I’m on the road to recovery…”
Just two years ago, the 24-year-old was touring 300 shows in a year without a single full-length studio album to his name. Earlier this month, he told tabloid! that the number of gigs he performs has lessened since — though not by much.
“It’s still crazy,” he said. “But this is my dream — being able to make a living in music and travel around like I do. I feel so fortunate. I remind myself of that all the time and that’s what keeps me going.”
Despite slowing down, Bergling’s life is still very much classified as crazy and on-the-go. He once professed enjoying going home to his own bed and cooking his own meals, but does he have time to do that anymore?
“Not much, but I cherish the times that I’m able to,” he admitted. “I’ll go home to either Sweden or LA and just turn off the Avicii part of me.”
The baby-faced producer had been hoping to go all out with the Avicii part of himself at the Ultra Live Festival this year. His last stint at the popular event left him dealing with mixed reviews — many of them less than kind.
“I hope that after last year, people will be willing to listen to all of the performances with open minds,” he said.
His debut record, True, made an international impression after its September release last year by mixing blue grass elements with EDM.
“It might sound a little bit corny, but I named it True because I remained true to myself,” he said. “This is the music I like, and it’s what I really wanted to make. I was very particular about the people I wanted to work with. I’ve been involved with every note and every vocal. So, this really feels as true to myself as I can get.”
The first single off the record was his chart-topping earworm Wake Me Up, which is still enjoying extensive radio play in Dubai. Even Bergling was taken aback with how much success the song achieved, saying he was “not at all” expecting it to blow up.
“It really resonated well with people. I wasn’t sure it was going to, because I’d never done a song like that before. It was a bit of a gamble but I wanted to do something different, and obviously I’m really pleased with the end result.”
And pleased he should be. True and its singles, including country-tinged Hey Brother, garnered global commercial success and quickly became a fan favourite — so much so that Bergling released a re-contextualised version of the album named Avicii by Avicii on March 24.
Even with his latest hospital stay, the young-faced DJ is undoubtedly on top of his game, and he’s not about to get complacent.
“Honestly, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it,” he confessed. “I feel that it’s important that it keeps changing or else people will get bored and move on.”
