July 17, 2009 15:00

Foals cancel Benicassim and Melt festivals due to 'mystery' illness

Two of the band have been struck by the 'unspecified' bug

Photo Gallery: Foals
Photo: Tim Cochrane

Foals have been forced to cancel two forthcoming festival appearances due to singer Yannis Philippakis and keyboardist Edwin Congreave falling ill.

The band will now not play Melt Festival tonight (July 17) or Benicassim Festival tomorrow (18).

Philippakis and Congreave took to Myspace.com/foals to blog about their conditions.

"Unspecified illness with all manner of symptoms. Don't worry mum, we're drinking lots of water," Congreave wrote, adding that he and Philippakis are holed up in their house together trying to recuperate.

The duo didn't reveal what they are ill with, but Philippakis said that that his brother has been leaving food outside their house, so they don't catch the bug.

"My brother has been ferrying food to me," he wrote. "He calls me once the food has been left on the doorstep and he is out of contagions way. It's like something out of a bad sleuth series. I trudge down in my musty purple Florida T-shirt, I snatch the parcel and head to the kitchen and devour the contents."

Despite the band apologising for cancelling the two festival appearances, Congreave added that Foals' are still set to head into the studio next week to work on new material.

"Is there a silver lining? Well, we're not dead. And we start recording next week," he wrote.