The Vanns cut their Old Bar Beach Festival set short on Saturday after bassist Tom Switlek experienced a health scare.
The band stopped during their eighth song, ‘Chelsea’, after Switlek became unwell and required medical attention. The Music reports that seven songs had been completed before the set ended.
The Vanns later told fans that Switlek was “doing well” and thanked the St John paramedic who assisted him at the festival. The band has not shared further details about the incident, and there is no need to speculate beyond its statement.
Sunday’s scheduled appearance at 7th Day Brewery in Brookvale was cancelled. “Our boy Tommy & health comes first,” the band wrote while apologising to people who had planned to attend.
Their next listed show is at Beach Road Hotel in Bondi on 23 October. Festival appearances at Crafted in Newcastle on 7 November and Melbourne on 21 November remain on the calendar at the time of writing.
The interruption comes during the touring cycle for All That’s In My Head, the Wollongong band’s third album. It was recorded across sessions in London and Wollongong and followed 2023’s Last Of Your Kind, which reached number eight on the ARIA Albums Chart.
The only update that matters for now is the one The Vanns chose to give: Switlek is doing well. Any change to the band’s coming dates should come through its official channels. Health scares onstage can turn immediately into rumour, especially when a set stops without warning. The Vanns’ response has been deliberately narrow: confirm that Switlek received care, reassure listeners that he is doing well, and remove the next performance rather than gamble on a quick return. That leaves fans with less detail, but it is the right kind of absence. A musician’s recovery does not become public property because it interrupted a festival timetable. Until the band says more, the sensible response is relief rather than amateur diagnosis.
