British heavy metal veterans SAXON have announced the immediate cancellation of 10 summer shows and festival appearances while singer Biff Byford undergoes an emergency procedure.

The recovery period for the operation will sadly mean the immediate cancellation/postponement of 10 shows across a six-week period. As a result, the band will regretfully now not be performing at the below scheduled shows including their much-anticipated performances at Wacken Open Air, Pol’And’Rock, Summer Breeze, E Town Rock, Area 53 and Öland Rock festivals.

A spokesperson for SAXON‘s management company said: “SAXON were so looking forward to performing at all the below summer festivals and events, but the health and well-being of the band obviously has to come first.

“It goes without saying that all in SAXON are gutted that they will be unable to perform but look forward to hopefully being back on stage in time to play both Trutnoff Open Air Festival in Czech Republic on August 23 and Neuborn Open Air on August 29. The band are also very much looking forward to their upcoming tours of both Spain, France and the U.K. later this year too. SAXON will still be performing as planned at Rockharz Festival in Ballenstedt in Germany on July 2.”

Affected shows:

Jul. 12 – Area 53 Festival, Leoben (Austria)
Jul. 24 – Lokomotivat, Ekilstuna (Sweden)
Jul. 25 – Öland Rock Festival, Borgholm (Sweden)
Jul. 26 – Garden, Linköping (Sweden)
Jul. 27 – Furuvik, Gävle (Sweden)
Jul. 29 – Turbinenhalle 2, Oberhausen (Germany)
Jul. 31 – Pol’And’Rock Festival, Czaplinek (Poland)
Aug. 01 – Wacken Open Air, Wacken (Germany)
Aug. 09 – E Town Rock, Ekenäs (Finland)
Aug. 16 – Summer Breeze Festival, Dinkelsbühl (Germany)

SAXON is sorry for any inconvenience caused to fans and ask for everyone’s patience and understanding at this time. The band is currently working with all the promoters of the above events to see as to whether any of these shows and appearances can be rescheduled. Area 53 festival in Leoben (Austria) has already confirmed that the band will now be appearing at their 2026 edition instead. More details to follow. The three club shows in Sweden on July 24 (Ekilstuna),July 26 (Linköping) and July 27 (Gävle) have all sadly been cancelled with immediate effect. Tickets buyers should contact their point of purchase for a full refund. Details of any other rescheduled shows will be announced on SAXON‘s web site in due course.

Last August, Biff underwent a “procedure” to treat atrial flutter, a type of heart rhythm abnormality, or arrhythmia, that causes the heart’s upper chambers (atria) to beat too quickly. The operation was performed by Dr. Jane Caldwell, a consultant cardiologist at Spire Hull And East Riding Hospital, a private hospital in Hull, East Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

Back in December 2021, Biff told Full In Bloom in an interview that he had made modest dietary changes in the two years after he suffered a heart attack and underwent an emergency triple bypass surgery. “A little bit,” he said. “I don’t eat dairy anymore. I suppose I’ll eat an occasional piece of cheese, but I don’t eat dairy anymore because of the cholesterol level thing. But pretty much [everything] else, I haven’t really changed. We’ll have a veggie week some weeks where my wife will just put vegetarian food all week, which is a bit of a change, really, and it gets rid of toxic things in your body. But I haven’t really changed that much, to tell you the truth.”

The now-74-year-old singer went on to say that he has added 16:8 intermittent fasting to his lifestyle, a type of dieting where people fast during a portion of the week and then eat on the other days. The 16:8 type of intermittent fasting involves eating only during a specific right-hour period each day.

“I will do that,” Biff said. “I mean, I did do that today, actually. I didn’t have lunch until 2 o’clock and I’ll eat dinner at 7:30 and then I try not to have anything else until the next day. So most of your fasting is done while you’re asleep; that’s how it’s supposed to work. What you try and do is eat all your meals in the eight hours. Don’t go stupid. And then if you go to bed at, say, 11 o’clock and get up at eight or seven, then you had nearly eight hours in bed. A lot of people do it. It’s quite positive. I think it’s a bit easier than some diets.

“If you don’t eat until the morning until quite late, you definitely feel a hit of energy,” he explained. “And you’re also quite hungry, so you appreciate the food [that you are eating]. Keeping to it is difficult sometimes, obviously. You want a glass of wine or you want a beer or something; you’re always being tempted with these things.”

According to Biff, he still drinks alcohol occasionally. “Oh, yeah,” he said. “A couple of glasses of wine some nights, it’s no problem. As long as you’re not drinking two bottles of wine, it’s fine.”

More than five years ago, Byford described his heart attack to Planet Rock, saying “it wasn’t like a Hollywood heart attack, [where] you drop on the floor with your legs up in the air. I was biking, I was on my bike — I do a lot of biking and walking. And I was getting a bit breathless. And I went to the doctor. They sent me in to the hospital straight away. One of my arteries was getting blocked. They couldn’t get to it easily; it was risky. So they gave me a heart bypass. And so while they were in there, they did all three… So, yeah, they did all three. And then I came to, and that was it. I was really ill.”

A heart bypass surgery, or coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, is used to improve blood flow to the heart. A surgeon uses blood vessels taken from another area of the body to bypass the damaged arteries.

The term triple bypass refers to the number of coronary arteries bypassed in the procedure. In other words, a triple bypass means three coronary arteries are bypassed.