Dead Moon’s frontman, Fred Cole collapsed on-stage last Saturday during a live-performance at Bumbershoot Music Festival. While the causes of his sudden-collapse derived from an apparent heart-condition, the 67-year-old singer/guitarist is reported to be doing just fine now after receiving medical-attention.
The Portland rock institution had burned through almost an entire-set, including signature hits: “13 Going on 21,” “Walking on My Grave,” and “Goddamn I Hate The Blues” when Cole fell to the floor in exhaustion.
An eye-witness in the crowd, Eric Duffy commented: “He fully went down on all fours and had to brace himself, then a few stage hands came out and helped him off.”
Once Cole had been properly escorted offstage, his wife and bandmate, Toody Cole shed valuable-light on the situation by informing the audience at Bumbershoot of Cole’s open-heart surgical operation the previous year, acknowledging his recent health-issues. After solemnly thanking the fans, she said: “now I have to go take care of my man.”
In response, Dead Moon’s management released a statement on the Coles’s other band’s(Pierced Arrows) Facebook page: “Hey everyone – so some news from the Dead Moon show at Bumbershoot today is going to start popping up online. Fred Cole collapsed on stage and had to be taken to the hospital. We just got word from Toody that he had stabilized and is now coherent again. It’s some heart complications. Keep him in your thoughts please. I’ll update once we know more.”
Later that night, Toody Cole posted this message on Facebook as well: “just talked with the hospital & Fred is doing well, so they took him out of intensive care & up to a regular room. Couple more tests before they decide what needs to be done. Thanks for all your love & support.”