By Catriona Rigney,Mia O’Hare

Copyright ok

Busted’s James Bourne has announced that he has pulled out of the band’s joint tour with McFly, days before it is set to begin. The musician was scheduled to take the stage tomorrow night, but has confirmed he won’t be taking part, for now.

In his emotional update, James said he is “not in good enough health to play these shows” but hopes he is in a position to “come back further down the line.” He wrote: “The VS tour kicks off tomorrow night in Birmingham and as excited as l’ve been all year for this tour to begin, I’m really sorry to say that over the last 8 days it has become clear that I am not in good enough health to play these shows :-(“.

He continued: “There’s a lot of information I still don’t have about my condition but my bandmates, management and I are unanimous in deciding that I should focus on the medical stuff for now.

“I really hope I can be in a position to come back further down the line. It’s still going to. be an amazing show and I will miss being there! See you all as soon as possible.”

Following years of chart rivalry, Busted and McFly joined forces for this special UK tour, promising fans a head-to-head style performance featuring their biggest hits, reports the Mirror.

The tour is set to kick off in Birmingham tomorrow night before moving on to London’s O2 Arena. The bands will then travel to Cardiff, Sheffield, Leeds, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham, Manchester, Dublin and Belfast, wrapping up their run at London’s O2 Arena on November 1.

Following James’ announcement, fans have been quick to send their love and best wishes, with messages flooding in telling him to “Get well soon.” Another chimed in: “Get well soon brother.”One fan expressed their concern: “Aww, wishing you a speedy recovery James.”

While another exclaimed: “Oh nooooo JB! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! WE WILL MISSS YOUUUUU! ! ! ! Hope you’re okay.”

Harry Judd wrote: “Won’t be the same without you dude. Hope you’re back on Tour asap”, while Iain Stirling commented: “Health before anything else!”

The two bands, who previously joined forces as McBusted, have been gearing up for the tour that’s all about friendly competition, aiming to win over each other’s fans. Busted features James, Matt Willis, and Charlie Simpson, while the McFly members are Harry Judd, Dougie Poynter, Tom Fletcher, and Danny Jones.

Last year, Harry said: “We’ve been talking about this for years, it’s only now it’s the right time so it’s come together. The idea is that each band will perform, then we’ll come together to battle it out. There’ll be laser beams shooting out of guitars, and at the end some kind of winner.”

James added: “I love the idea of it being a McFly show, and then they sing Bubble Wrap – and the first you see of Busted is Charlie coming down from the ceiling like an angel, singing the chorus.

“I’ve got a hundred of those ideas. I wanted to have the intro like in ET, with seven of us flying in on BMX bikes in the sky. That would be epic.”