Lars Frederiksen of Rancid collapses on stage; Toronto/Buffalo dates rescheduled

Many of you wrote in with the news that Rancid guitarist Lars Frederiksen collapsed on stage at the band's third Montreal date on August 31st. One submitter wrote:

About halfway through the show Frederiksen suddenly collapsed while the band was performing the song "7 years down" from their Let's go album. The band was playing and then suddenly stopped when guitarist/vocalist Lars Fredrikssen fainted. Guitarist/vocalist Tim Armstrong and bassist/vocalist Matt Freeman rushed to their bandmate lying on stage, looking very preoccupied.

After a couple of minutes, Fredrikssen was helped off stage by bandmembers and roadies. The crowd anxiously awaited news from the band for about 15-20 minutes. Tim and Matt came back on stage to announce Fredrikssen had suffered a seizure and was hurried to a Montreal hospital. They also told the crowd that the band would come back to play another gig pretty much as soon as Fredrikssen would be back and healthy.

For further clarification, Punknews.org contacted the band's representation who gave us this statement:

"Due to Lars Frederiksen's sudden illness, Rancid will post-pone their shows from Sept. 1-4 in Toronto and Buffalo. The tour will resume on Sept. 5th in Pittsburgh, PA. Tickets for the post-poned shows will be honored for their correlating reschedule dates to be announced shortly. We appreciate your understanding and will return soon!

Other reports add that the audience took the news respectfully and that "Nothing bad ensued either in the venue or outside ."

Rancid has been on the road for the past two months on a tour which has recieved many positive reviews.

Punknews.org sends their best wishes to Lars for a quick recovery.