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I hope it's OK if I post Mike Mattessino's recent Facebook post here, since there were no pertinent details about the illness other than to comfort us all a little bit -- which we need right now:

I hope it's OK if I post Mike Mattessino's recent Facebook post here, since there were no pertinent details about the illness other than to comfort us all a little bit -- which we need right now:

There's still a lot to look forward to people. I'm more concerned about his health, to be honest. Karol

I'm with you on this. There's not a person here who isn't concerned with Williams health, and wish him all the best. Of course the concert is secondary to his recovery. Everyone gets that, and no one disagrees with it. And frankly it goes without saying, especially here. No JWFanner needs to prove their concern for John Williams. But I can do without the sanctimonious hand wringing and tut-tutting from people who have zero personal relationship with Williams about how others aren't showing the proper amount of mournful respect. "Oh, won't anyone please take JW's health into consideration...think of his children!" is just bullshit posturing. It's frankly fine for people to be upset and disappointed that they're not going to see him conduct, and to express that disappointment and...gasp...even joke about it. Nothing anyone says here makes one whit of difference to JW's recovery, so the whole "you're not showing enough concern for his health" is just faux outage and hot air. To say nothing of the fact that it's perfectly possible to be disappointed and wish him well. The two things are not mutually exclusive. I wish John Williams a full and speedy recovery, and hope to see him wielding the baton again soon. I also feel bad for everyone who planned their trip and made an investment of money and time on a possible once in a lifetime experience who might just be a little disappointed. Oh bullshit you don't care. If you didn't care about seeing Williams you wouldn't have made the trip in the first place. Yes, everyone hopes Williams "gets better" and makes it back to LA in health. You're not the only human being posting here. Drop the sermonising. They're capable of holding two thoughts at once?

Odds are the Maestro will be listening in on Classic FM. How about JWFanners attending sing ‘hope you get well soon’ to the tune of of the 5 note CE3K motif as the LSO warms up? Led by Jay of course.

Another source to me has confirmed his condition is stable and they are waiting for clearance from the Doctors so that he can return home. So that's some good news for now.

People are allowed to express their disappointment here, and probably don't need to hear that right now.

I actually called up and upgraded my ticket to better seats. Did the opposite to everyone else 😂😊

All the pissy comments I've seen on Facebook seem to think it's a cop-out, like it was somehow an 86 yo's fault for contracting an illness... Yes, I'd be disappointed too, but people who can go, and have tickets should still go in the spirit of the music and solidarity for Williams, the conductor and the musicians. I imagine that Williams is disappointed too, but I can also imagine how disappointed he would be for people to not show up.

I can't believe some of the attitudes here. Sorry you're mad that you will lose some money on your flights/hotels but the dude is obviously becoming frail. I saw him in Cleveland and he had difficulty speaking for long periods of time. I felt so bad, and it makes me sick that people are getting pissed because he had to cancel.

I'm still envious of the whole get together with or without Williams conducting. I'm gonna call and have some shitty alcohol delivered to the table.

This event will be a celebration of the man, at a time when it's most fitting. It's a previlege if we can be part of that.

Let's not speculate on the form of his illness.

In general, what is there to be 'angry' about? This is certainly no one's fault. I naturally understand the dissappointment, but the first thing that comes to my mind, when reading this, is the Jerry Goldsmith 75th birthday concert that he also had to cancel last minute. This leads me to the two following points: 1. The music itself will be as enjoyable as with Williams conducting himself. 2. We should rather be concerned than angry.

Many thanks for the welcome! I'll definitely be one of those street roamers, probably humming the Schindler's List theme sadly to myself looking forlorn. Oh, and it's also really helpful at this time to hear people remind everyone how many times they've seen JW live - real helpful guys 😂

Calm down, swearing and other expletive responses are a common form of expressing great shock and disappointment at something. It's venting, hot air. Also, not all of us have regular easy access to London nor the RAH and might have made major logistical and financial allowances in order to attend the concert in question. I think the strong if perhaps unpalatable reactions were justified. As for Williams' unfortunate state of health, it should go without saying that we of course all wish him speedy recovery (we're all big fucking fans of his here, right?) and we are collectively very saddened by his unavoidable predicament. But for you to just wade in and start judging others for their gutted reactions in this thread, it's pretty shitty.

Thank you. I'm actually quite disgusted by some of the people on here. As excited as everyone was to see him conduct, some for the first time, the way people turned and started foul mouthing the situation, some without the thought of even wishing Williams a speedy recovery says more to me than anything else. I knew there was a reason I told Stefan I'd rather not go to the dinner to meet most people on here, even though I do really like some of you quite a bit. Williams life might be on the line right now and all some of you can think about is how inconvenient it is that he will not be there? What kind of world do you people live in? I would say I'm shocked but really, the way I have seen some of you talk on here, I'm not sure why I am. Gross! I'm heartbroken that he is that ill. I said from the start I wish he would not do this journey. I just got to London a few days ago to see Harry Potter and the concert with him. I do not care that he will not show up. I only care that he gets better and gets back to LA in health. What is wrong with you people?

How disappointing for him too. To decide to finally travel out of the country for the first time in so many years, only to have a health issue. I bet he's frustrated.

The key is to go in expecting crap titles no one could possibly care about. Like, I dunno, Child's Play 2 to pull a random example. Then you can only be pleasantly surprised!

The man is unwell and you want to make him watch JJ Abrams movies? What kinda monster are you?!

I think pretty much any concert happening in London this weekend would be better than Brian Tyler

Wow this is unfortunate. Sorry guys. Get together and drink it off. It'll still be a good time.

Makes me sad to hear that a lot of people are returning their tickets. Obviously, it won’t be the same as the maestro conducting his own music, and I understand that people are disappointed. But it’s still a JW concert. It’s still the RAH. It’s still the LSO. It’s still London. It’s still once in a lifetime.

What on Earth are you talking about? Everybody here is thinking and wishing for a quick recovery. Then there is the fact that many people is gonna have to change plans, deal with sadness and/or dissapointment, or loose a ton of money. Yes, some of us might foul mouth the situation, as you said. THE SITUATION, not blaming anybody. Shit happens, some of us with have to deal with it. But why would you care for those, right? Better play the smug card, as you just did, I guess.

I try to find some comfort in the fact that -- despite the JW cancellation -- it's going to be a legendary get-together of people you've only known through cyberspace for years. And heck, an events-filled long weekend in London is nice anyway.

No, but at his age, everything is precautionary. From the wording of the announcement in the email, he seems genuinely gutted himself.

Just spoken to one of my colleagues in the LSO, who was saying that they don't as yet know the health issue that has occurred, and that they didn't get to rehearse with him, which they'd expected to do yesterday. Will update when more info becomes available, but the orchestra are as shocked as those attending.

DHI&II especially were ripe for reusing earlier motifs because of all the callbacks and wrapping up of storylines and characters. Dobby's material (at least a semi-heroic rendition when he says Dobby is a free elf!), either the Family theme or Window to the Past for the Resurrection Stone scene, maybe a relieved Gryffindor motif when Harry enters the Room of Requirement instead of that positively sinister tracked bit, instead we have Hedwig's Theme "deconstructed" to unrecogniseableness, that generic Dies Irea-esque ostinato for the siege and preparations, tons of bland nondescript blockbuster action, "epicness" and an "oo--aahh"-ing female soloist. A heap of missed opportunities which really wouldn't have mattered too much if what we got instead was good - like Goblet of Fire.

Thank you ladies and gentlemen, it's such an honour and a privilege to be here at this wonderful hall tonight, conducting the incredible London Symphony Orchestra. Some of you may remember the little-known films I conducted many years ago with the London Symphony Orchestra called "Star Wars" (hold for laughter and applause). I must confess, truthfully, my only regret after all these years of working with the LSO is that I never wrote a love theme for them to perform! So I thought tonight would be the perfect opportunity to debut a brand new love theme I wrote just last year, the first of its kind in the Star Wars series of films, which I certainly hope you'll enjoy. This is the new love theme, Han Solo & The Princess. Thank you.

I vote for this.

End of the day, seeing the LSO play Star Wars, Superman and probably Raiders ain't nothing to be sniffed at. Especially considering I'm like 10ft away from the players. I'm just gonna absorb it.

Nice to see Brossé at it already. I wonder if he was always a "backup" or if he was just in London to attend the concert as an audience member, and then stepped in on short notice -- like you sometimes see in airplane movies when something happens to the pilot, and the stewardess asks if there are any "pilots among the passengers"?

Dirk Brossé already rehearsing with the LSO. (Source: @maxinekwokadams)

I get very afraid every time Williams is sick. Hope him the best!

Ah, that's a shame. Obviously I'm gutted for everyone who has spent so much money and put so much energy into flying overseas to attend this concert. But I'm also very concerned for John and dearly hope he has a speedy recovery from his ailment. May we all hope it is nothing too serious but simply precautionary. It would be nice to have a little more information because I think we're all a bit unnerved by this news and the lack of clarity around his condition, so hopefully this is a precautionary measure and Williams simply needs time to rest and recover. No doubt he is getting the best care that money can afford in London, and hopefully his close family flew over with him to keep him company. Either way, I'm sure he's absolutely devastated by this turn of events and would not have made this decision lightly. It would be horrible to spend a year planning a working holiday such as this, only to be hospitalised soon after disembarking the plane.

As mentioned above, JW himself must be very disappointed at this turn of events, so sending him a 'get well soon' card from his fans sounds like a fantastic idea. I doubt he would be expecting it and would no doubt cheer him up a little. I'm all for that. I'll be in London from tomorrow so I'm happy to assist if needed.

Can I just say that we don't know that JW is seriously ill. We only know he is ill and is in hospital. We don't know the nature or severity of the illness. An 86 year old in hospital does not immediately indicate a serious illness.

To be honest, I'm not too disappointed. I've already seen in twice this year so I consider myself very lucky. I can understand why other people are disappointed though. Not surprised Vienna is cancelled, and I don't necessarily consider this to be an indication that the illness is worse than initially thought. At his age during an illness, flying is not advisable. Hell, flying is not advisable for people of any age during some illnesses. I'd also point out that it is not uncommon for an 86 year old to have to visit hospital for an illness. He has had last minute illnesses before. For all we know, it could just be his back. The best outcome is that he'll stay in London to recover and fly home to LA when he is ready. My main concern is episode IX. I really wouldn't care if he retires after that. Finishing a trilogy of trilogies would be a great way to end a career.

They should call it 'an evening without John Williams' now. Boy am I glad I didn't get tickets now...

Apparently this restoration of the film is happening... Yavar

SpongeBob steps out of his pineapple BWAAAAAAAAAAAAM

Good afternoon all. Long time fan of JW, first time poster. Like everyone else I'm absolutely gutted to find out about today's cancellations. More than anything because I've never had the opportunity to see him live and am flying to Vienna from Wales for his Saturday Vienna show. Whilst it goes without saying that everyone here wishes him a speed recovery, it's quite easy to understand why so many would be so upset for personal reasons. I'm still travelling to Vienna as everything by this point is non-refundable, and hell, it seems like an awesome place to go for a long weekend! But my god this is gutting. JW has been firmly at the top of my musical bucket list for decades, and given that I'm from Europe we don;t tend to get as many chances to see him live as our American counterparts. As mentioned, fingers crossed it's a passing illness and he makes an ultra quick recovery, and fingers crossed he gives us another shot next year perhaps! For now though, I'll remain in my pit of despair and continue wallowing in it.

I've seen JW six times in concert so maybe this cancellation isn't as heartbreaking for me as it is to others. I already saw him in Chicago this year, and if I'm being honest, I was attending London really to avoid missing out on the historic event itself rather than actually seeing JW. It must be horrible for those people who considered Friday their only chance of seeing him I remember over the recent years, whenever JW cancelled an expected score or a concert, there was talk of serious illness but that was never the case. So, I'm just going by the info we have to hand, he is in a London hospital for an unknown illness of unknown severity. Based on the announcement, he said himself that he wants the concert to go ahead. Having said that, the sight of JW basking in the cheers and rapturous applause of a packed Royal Albert Hall would have been an amazing and enduring image.

These news are horrible of course,and the dissapointment is tremendous, but i do hope everyone shows up for the pre concert stuff and the concert itself. There's still a lot to look forward to.

He was in Liverpool UK last week conducting the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra for On the Waterfront Live.. He comes here regularly and is excellent. Does pre concert talks to small groups. A very popular choice. I've seen him rehearse and he is very detailed in what he wants and he knows Williams scores very well.

This. I get the disappointment but it seems more people are angry for him not being able to conduct than concerned for his wellbeing. This is going to be my first time going to a concert. I have no intention of cancelling, even if it turns out to be a little less special than I'd hoped.

Not withstanding our collective and wholehearted wish for his well-being and speedy recovery, the concert was supposed to be about John Williams. People have paid to see him conduct and be entertain by his participation. A John Williams concert conducted by someone else can be done anywhere at anytime. I'd blame no one for suddenly not wanted to attend at all. All respect to Dirk Brosse, but him replacing the Maestro effectively defeats the purpose of the concert. If I had a ticket, I'd personally rather take a rain check, expensive and inconvenient as it may be in the short term.

I just hope it's nothing too serious and he'll be around to write and conduct for some more time, like finish Star Wars as he intends. Though that's easier to say having no tickets, it must be a major bummer for those who do.