James Bourne has been seen for the first time since his mystery surgery, appearing in a rehearsal video for his upcoming musical. The Busted star pulled out of the band's VS Tour with McFly last September just 24 hours before the first gig, and has rarely been heard from since.
The 42-year-old revealed in April that he had undergone surgery, hoping the procedure would 'extend his life', but gave no further details. He later announced a 13-year-in-the-making megaproject, which turned out to be a new musical by Tony Award-winning US playwright Steven Sater.
Rehearsal video shows Bourne at the keyboard
It appears the musical concept album is turning into a full stage show, with James visible in rehearsals on the Murder at the Gates TikTok. In a new video, he plays the keyboard while Isa Briones sings the track 'No One Sits on High'.
While his back was to the camera, fans were delighted to see him playing music again after such a long time away. 'Yes, she really sounds like that live,' the caption read. 'Watch this behind the scenes footage of Isa Briones singing through 'No One Sits on High' for the first time with @James Bourne.'
One fan, Nuki, commented: 'James 😭 I'm missing you so much thank you for this little appearance 🩷 wishing you a fast recovery, dude!' 'oh hiiii Jamessss 👋🏻,' Carol Montemor added as JaxPJames wrote: 'James!! So good to see him doing well!'
Tour exit and brother's replacement
In an earlier video of Isa singing, posted on August 14, James could be seen in the background, sitting down with headphones on. 'James in the bg I hope he's doing well and is taking a well-earned break and taking it steady 🙏,' commented Ella at the time.
The musician, who rose to fame with Busted in the early 2000s, pulled out of the tour with just 24 hours to go. In a touching move, his brother Chris stepped in to replace him and toured with Busted's other two members, Matt Willis and Charlie Simpson.
James's bandmates frequently mentioned him during the tour, with Matt telling fans through tears he was 'really sick'. The Love is Blind host and Cabaret star previously told Metro that he never wanted to tour without James again. 'It was a real shame,' he said. 'We've never done a show without James and it was really hard. There was a real moment of "are we gonna do this or not? Should we do this?"'
No official return announcement yet
'We were talking to him and he was like "you should still do it, I just can't be there." It was a really difficult time for us. It all happened so quickly.'
Danny Jones also told Metro how tough it was on McFly too, as the group had worked closely with James throughout their career. He said the band just wanted their friend to get better, and teased that maybe they could do a Busted vs McFly tour again when he was ready.
So far, James has not made any official announcements about his return, promising to share an update in his Spotify about section when he was ready. In his original statement on his health, 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 :-( 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.'
