Shawn 'Clown' Crahan steps away from Slipknot's European tour again, to be with his wife: "See you soon and hail Slipknot"

(Image credit: Slipknot Instagram)

Shawn 'Clown' Crahan has left Slipknot's European tour in order to return to Iowa to be with his sick wife, who is suffering from an undisclosed health condition.

Crahan informed his beloved 'maggots' of his decision via a post on Slipknot's social media channels, adding his apologies.

Crahan wrote: "Hello to all of our fans. Unfortunately I had to return back home to be with my wife due to her medical situation. Thank you for the overwhelming support for the few shows I was able to make. I’m so sorry for missing the remainder of these shows, I was really looking forward to being there. As always, I’m so gracious for your overwhelming support for our family. I will be seeing you all at our shows in July. See you soon and hail Slipknot."

See the statement below:

A post shared by Slipknot (@slipknot)
A photo posted by on

Less than two weeks ago Clown told fans that he would have to sit out The Nine's European tour, stating "I’m back home supporting my wife through some health issues, and I’ll be back on the road as soon as I can."

Slipknot fans were therefore delighted when the percussionist returned for the band's headline show at Download festival last weekend.

Slipknot play Hellfest in France tonight, June 18, and then play a brace of headline dates in Germany with Sleep Token in support.

Slipknot's Corey Taylor recently sang Sleep Token's praises in an interview with YouTuber Allison Hagendorf, saying: “I’ll call them metal, but there’re so many different levels and layers [to the music]. There’s pop elements, there’s jazz elements. I love the fact that nobody really knows who they are. I love the fact that they don’t want to be known.”

“There are hints of early, early Slipknot there. At first we were like, ‘Nope. You get nothing. This is what you get, you figure it out. We’ll let the music speak for ourselves’.”

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.