Jelly Roll is currently en route back to his Tennessee home after a tour run Down Under. While Jelly Roll’s time in Australia seemed to be off to a hot start, with Jelly Roll doing shoeys and laying down stellar performances.
The tour took a turn when he had to cancel a show in Auckland at the last minute, after his supporting acts and fans were getting ready to rock and roll inside the venue. Jelly Roll admitted that this last-minute cancellation is something he is not proud of, but he could not shake his illness to take the stage.
“Dear Auckland, I’ve done everything I can. I just can’t shake it. It breaks my heart, I’ve probably missed three shows in the last decade. I pride myself on showing up no matter what. Just couldn’t do it this time. Please forgive me.”
Jelly Roll wrote in an Instagram story post that he would not be taking the stage that night. While many music enthusiasts know that touring, especially in another country, takes a toll on musicians, it’s always sad when a show you are looking forward to gets canceled unexpectedly.
So what exactly was Jelly Roll battling that made the end of his Australia run so hard?
In a recent sit-down with the No Filter podcast, hosted by Kate Langbroek, Jelly Roll admitted that this tour took a toll on him mentally, and he was struggling greatly with being so far from home.
“I’m falling apart. It’s a horrible week. Yeah, I’m doing the worst mentally I’ve done for a long time…I’m really far from home, and it’s really hitting me that I’m really far from home, like, in an anxious way.”
However, being homesick was not the only battle Jelly Roll was facing. He continues:
“This is No Filter, right? This trip over here f***ed my stomach up. I mean, it f***ed my stomach up in a way that my stomach hasn’t been f***ed up in a year or two. Like, I just can’t get out of it, dude.”
Jelly Roll shares that he naturally has an uneasy stomach, which makes long travel hard on him. Jelly also says that when his gut is acting up, it affects many other facets of his mental health.
“When my stomach’s not right, nothing is right. My mind’s not right, everything I’m just not thinking clear. All I’m thinking about right now is ‘Why does my stomach feel like this?’ The whole time we are talking, right now, it’s what I’m thinking about.”
Jelly Roll and Kate Langbroek then discuss how flying is notorious for causing stomach flare-ups and how flight attendants frequently battle stomach issues. They joke that his stomach is like a bag of chips and he inflates when he’s in a pressurized cabin.
Of course, in true Jelly Roll fashion, he then spins that analogy into his experience with flying and hilariously shares how that pressure affects him.
“You know what it is, it’s just the air. But the problem is that air pressure. When it sits against that rectum, you spend the whole day thinking you’re fixing to s*** yourself, and really you’re just waiting for your body to relax enough to fart. Welcome to the No Filter podcast, everybody.”
Maybe don’t trust a fart after that…
Jelly Roll shares that he’s learning to work through his stomach issues and notes that Australia doesn’t use tour buses, which leaves him spending a lot of time alone in hotel rooms, which impacts his mental well-being.
“I don’t like it. I don’t like spending a lot of time in my hotel room by myself; I’m in my head. I’m not having fun, I want to go home.”
Naturally, when you’re not feeling your best, you want to spend time at home to recharge and get your mind right, which also makes sense as to why Jelly Roll is feeling extra homesick on this tour run. Thankfully, he will be back at his home base very soon and has two confirmed tour dates for the rest of the year, giving him time to rest at home with his family.
