Abbath leaves the stage early at a headlining show

Abbath walked off the stage a few songs into his headlining set at Tampere's Saarihelvetti festival on August 14, Metal Injection reported. The Immortal founder, real name Olve Eikemo, took the stage without his usual corpsepaint and body armor, even though the rest of his band appeared in full regalia.

The band opened with "To War!" as planned, but partway through, Eikemo hurled his guitar onto the stage and walked off, with the rest of the band following him into the wings.

Drummer Ukri Suvilehto returned to address the crowd directly, apologizing on the band's behalf: "Let's just say that it probably won't come as a surprise to anyone that our lead singer is struggling with health problems," he said, according to Finnish outlet Inferno, adding, "we're very sorry if this gig has been interrupted." "But we, as solid professionals, are prepared for anything, so we'll see," he continued. "But thank you and sorry. We have done everything we can."

Festival organizers later confirmed the show ended because Eikemo was unable to continue due to health problems. It is not the first time a live show has been cut short: in November 2019, Abbath played an infamously short two-song set in Buenos Aires, reduced to just Eikemo, then-bassist Mia Wallace and Suvilehto after guitarist Ole Andre Farstad reportedly stayed behind at the hotel following an argument with his frontman. The band canceled its scheduled South American tour shortly after, and weeks later Eikemo issued a statement acknowledging a battle with addiction and committing to a rehab program to "get clean once and for all."

Abbath has toured behind the 2022 album Dread Reaver, released via Season of Mist; the Saarihelvetti appearance had been announced back in March. As of the report, the band's camp had not issued a further statement on the Tampere show, part of an ongoing run of dates now tracked on the tour guide alongside the rest of this year's metal touring circuit.