The Cure's Simon Gallup replaced by his son on bass as he's forced to pull out of Japanese festival

A “serious personal situation” stopped the bassist from performing at Fuji Rock Festival

The Cure‘s Simon Gallup was forced to pull out of a recent show in Japan due to a “serious personal situation,” but instead of the band cancelling their performance, Gallup’s son Eden stepped in to replace his father on bass.

Held for the first time in the summer of 1997 amidst the sprawling nature at the foot of Mount Fuji with “symbiosis of nature and music” as its theme, Fuji Rock Festival is one of the largest outdoor music festivals in Japan.

However, the first year was hit by a large typhoon forcing the cancellation of the second day. Rather then a “symbiosis”, the organisers and festival-goers both yielded to the fury of nature and the inaugural year of the festival proved to be full of challenges. After being held in Tokyo at Toyosu in 1998, the festival made its move back to the ideal of a location surrounded by nature – its current home – Naeba Ski Resort in Niigata prefecture.

Taking place this weekend (July 26-28), The Cure headlined the festival’s Green Stage on Sunday (July 28), but they were without regular bassist Simon Gallop, who was unable to travel with the band due to a “serious personal situation,” according to a statement put out by the band.

“A serious personal situation affecting our bassist Simon arose after the Paleo Festival show on Thursday, and as a consequence Simon was unable to travel with us to Japan,” the statement read. “Very reluctant to disappoint our wonderful Japanese fans, and after much discussion, we decided to go ahead with out ‘Fuji Festival’ headline on Sunday.”

Going on to explain that Gallup’s son Eden stood in for him, the band said they were “very grateful to Ed for reaching out across the generational divide to help us out, and join him in welcoming his dad back for our seven remaining summer festival shows.”

See the full statement from the band below:

Take a look at a few clips from their Fuji Rock Festival performance below:

Meanwhile, The Cure have offered an update on their “epic” upcoming new album, revealing that it could be the band’s last full-length release.

The iconic Crawley group, whose last LP ‘4:13 Dream’ arrived in 2008, have been back in the studio working on their as-yet-untitled 14th record. Frontman Robert Smith previously described the new material as “so dark” and “incredibly intense”.

Now, the band have spoken further on the project and said that it is likely to be their final album.