Lionel Richie Faces Heart Tests After the Muny Show

Lionel Richie, 77, remains in a St. Louis intensive care unit on Wednesday for heart tests after sitting through the last song of his Muny concert. He checked himself in Saturday night, and a source close to the tour said he did so out of an abundance of caution. He is expected to fly home the same day, though overnight accounts still had him in the unit.

The stay is his second hospital trip of the summer, and it lands with three leftover nights beside Earth, Wind & Fire and six Las Vegas shows still on the sheet.

He Asked for a Chair Mid-Finale

The Muny billed a one-night-only concert at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 29, as its summer finale in Forest Park. Earth, Wind & Fire was not on the bill. The outdoor date was Richie’s first show after the co-headline run wrapped in Austin on Aug. 14.

He drank electrolyte bottles through the set and told the crowd the mix was nasty but that it worked. He kept the show moving with no intermission and stayed on his feet until the last number, All Night Long. Then he motioned for a chair and finished seated.

WHAT SATURDAY LOOKED LIKE

• The drinks: He sipped electrolytes onstage and joked that the taste was grim.
• The pace: He ran the set without a break and stood until the finale.
• The chair: Crew brought a seat so he could close on All Night Long.
• The talk: He told the crowd the tour had shaken him and that a doctor had named dehydration.
• The admission: He checked himself into a local hospital after the show.

He also walked the audience through the scare that opened the summer, and he put the diagnosis in the doctor’s mouth.

Some things have been happening on this tour that kind of shook me up a little bit, because I couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on. I went back to the doctor, and he said, ‘You are suffering from dehydration.’

Lionel Richie, speaking at The Muny, St. Louis

Muny president and CEO Kwofe Coleman had called the booking a chance to close the 108th season with a name the park had not had on that stage in this run of revived concerts. Ticket prices for the paid seats ran $75 to $300. Richie has sold more than 125 million albums and has judged American Idol since 2018, a stretch now in its ninth season.

Heart Tests in a St. Louis ICU

First accounts of the admission treated it as slight dehydration and a cautious self-check. By Tuesday night the same stay was being described as an ICU admission with heart tests, and the discharge target had moved from Tuesday to Wednesday, Sept. 2. No named heart condition has been announced. His team has not posted about St. Louis.

A source close to the tour said he was okay. That line sat beside the newer description of cardiac testing, and both have been allowed to stand because the hospital has not issued its own bulletin.

WHAT WE KNOW

• The admission: He checked himself in after the Muny show on Saturday night.
• The unit: Early accounts of the stay place him in intensive care for heart tests.
• The target: He is expected to fly home Wednesday, Sept. 2.
• The tour line: A source close to the run said he was okay and had come in out of an abundance of caution.

WHAT IS UNCONFIRMED

• A diagnosis: No specific heart condition has been named.
• The discharge: Overnight posts on Wednesday still described him as in the unit.
• The calendar: No public notice has pulled Sept. 26 in San Francisco or the dates behind it.

The louder problem is the work still printed after this stay. He already had to sit down twice this summer to get through his own uptempo songs, and the sheet in front of him still asks for arenas and a residency.

What Happened in St. Paul in June

The pattern started on opening night. On Wednesday, June 24, Richie and Earth, Wind & Fire opened the 26-city Sing a Song All Night Long tour at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul, with Live Nation producing. About 10,000 people were in the room. About 55 minutes in, he said he felt dizzy and strange.

He sat on the steps to sing Dancing on the Ceiling, a song he told the crowd he had never done seated, and he put the instruction in one line.

When you’re feeling dizzy, sit your ass down.

Lionel Richie, Grand Casino Arena, St. Paul

He moved to the piano for Three Times a Lady, called an intermission, and did not come back. About 40 minutes after he left, saxophonist Dino Soldo told the crowd Lionel was not feeling well and would not be able to continue. Saint Paul Fire Department spokesperson Jamie Smith said crews transported an adult male from the arena to a local hospital.

Live Nation Chicago then pulled the next two nights.

Under advisement by doctors to rest and return to full health, Lionel Richie has postponed his next two shows. Lionel is heartbroken to postpone these two shows and cannot wait to be back performing for his fans.

Live Nation Chicago, June statement

The pulled nights were Friday, June 26 at United Center in Chicago and Saturday, June 27 at Schottenstein Center in Columbus. The run restarted Tuesday, June 30 at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. He opened with a grin at the worry.

“Had you worried there for a minute, huh?” he asked the Pittsburgh crowd. “You have no idea what I have been through in the last 24 hours, listening to my friends tell me their advice on what I should be doing.”

On July 4 he posted that he was doing well, thanked fans for the messages, and pointed the tour toward Toronto.

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THE SUMMER THAT WOULD NOT STAY QUIET

1. June 24, 2026: Cuts the St. Paul opener short after a dizzy spell and is taken from the arena to a hospital.
2. June 26 and 27, 2026: Chicago and Columbus are postponed on doctors’ orders.
3. June 30, 2026: Returns in Pittsburgh and jokes that he had people worried.
4. July 4, 2026: Posts that he is doing well and grateful.
5. Aug. 6, 2026: The San Francisco co-headline night is halted before curtain after a medical emergency in Earth, Wind & Fire.
6. Aug. 14, 2026: The original tour end date in Austin goes ahead.
7. Aug. 29, 2026: Plays the Muny, sits for the finale, and checks himself into a St. Louis hospital.
8. Sept. 2, 2026: Expected to fly home while overnight accounts still describe an ICU stay and heart tests.

From the St. Paul opener to the Muny night is 66 days. The dehydration line he gave the St. Louis crowd was the same story the summer started with. The new tests are the part that story did not carry in June.

Three Makeup Dates Are Still Listed

The Muny was supposed to feel like a button on the run. It was not. Three co-headline nights that had already moved once are still listed, and they now sit behind a second hospital stay.

SHOWS STILL ON THE BOOKS

Chicago and Columbus would be second attempts at rooms that were already pulled in June. San Francisco would be the first try at a night that fell over for a different reason. From Wednesday to Chase Center is 24 days. Nobody has taken that date off the list in public.

The Band’s Drummer Is Still Recovering

The leftover San Francisco night is not only Richie’s problem. On Aug. 6, minutes before a 7:30 p.m. start at Chase Center, Earth, Wind & Fire pulled out after a medical emergency involving a member of the band. San Francisco Fire Department Capt. Mariano Elias said crews were dispatched to the arena at 5:30 p.m. and that one person was taken to a hospital by private ambulance. Hundreds of ticket holders were turned around at the doors.

The musician was drummer John Paris, 58, who joined the band in 2001. Family updates said doctors placed him in an induced coma after his blood pressure rose and he had trouble breathing, that he later woke, and that he still needed two major surgeries and more time in intensive care. His wife, Kathy Merrick, called the recovery a marathon. Sonny Emory, a former member, filled the chair so the tour could continue in Palm Desert, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Austin.

Live Nation told ticket holders they could keep the paper for a new date or seek a refund. That new date is Sept. 26, the same night that is now the first test of whether Richie is clear to share a stage again. The co-headline run is trying to collect three postponed rooms while both camps have had a hospital week on the same routing.

Wynn Still Has Six Nights Booked

If those three arenas hold, the turnaround is tight. Columbus is Oct. 2. The first Las Vegas show is Oct. 14, a 12-day gap from a makeup arena date into a residency. Wynn Las Vegas still posts the King of Hearts dates at Encore Theater for Oct. 14, 16 and 17 and Nov. 11, 13 and 14, all at 8 p.m.

THE WYNN BLOCK

• The room: Encore Theater, a sit-down residency rather than another arena hop.
• The count: Six nights across October and November.
• The history: More than 55 sold-out Encore shows since 2019.
• The gap: Twelve days from the Columbus makeup to opening night on the Strip.

The residency is the smaller room after a summer of basketball arenas, which is the point of the booking and also the next physical ask. Wynn has not posted a change. Richie has not posted since the Muny. The next shared name on the sheet is still San Francisco, Sept. 26.