Jack White has replaced Queens Of The Stone Age at Øya Festival 2024, with Air also joining the line-up.
The soloist and former White Stripes frontman will now top the bill at the Norwegian event on Friday August 9.
It comes after QOTSA were forced to cancel a further run of European dates as Josh Homme remains under “medical care” in the US. The singer returned home earlier this month to undergo “emergency surgery”.
Additionally, it has been confirmed that Air will be playing their 1998 debut album ‘Moon Safari’ in full at Øya 2024 on the same day.
The Smile had been scheduled to perform at the festival too, but had to drop out due to Jonny Greenwood’s ongoing recovery from a stay in intensive care. The trio told fans recently that the musician had been “seriously ill”.
White has also stepped in to replace Homme and co. at Way Out West in Sweden on Thursday August 8.
Queens Of The Stone Age, meanwhile, have advised fans to “check festival websites for further information” after they cancelled seven performances in August.
Last week, White surprise released a new solo album by slipping it into the bags of customers at branches of Third Man Records in London, Nashville and Detroit. He encouraged fans to “rip” the record – labelled ’NO NAME’ – and share it online.
A recording of the LP has since been uploaded to White’s official Reddit page. It is unclear if the project will receive a more extensive physical release. Beyond those lucky Third Man customers, members of the Third Man subscription service have reported receiving the album in the mail (via Stereogum).
White previously released two full-length albums in 2022 with ‘Fear Of The Dawn’ and ‘Entering Heaven Alive’.
Ahead of Øya Festival and Way Out West, the musician and his band will play shows in Nashville, Athens and Atlanta. He has only performed live once in 2024 so far, at the reopening of Michigan Central Station in Detroit in June.
Queens Of The Stone Age announced the cancellation of their August dates today (July 26) with the following statement: “Due to continued medical care, it is under doctors’ orders that Josh Homme remain in their care in the United States. The following QOTSA festival performances have been cancelled.
“The Homme family and QOTSA are so grateful for the outpouring of well wishes and kind understanding during this time.”
At the time of writing, the band are scheduled to play a run of North American shows between late September and mid-November. You can see their full itinerary here.