Limp Bizkit will reportedly go ahead with their forthcoming tour dates, despite the death of bassist Sam Rivers – further details of which have now emerged.
Rivers, who founded the band with Fred Durst in 1994, passed away last Saturday (October 18). He was 48 years old.
Paying tribute online, Limp Bizkit wrote: “Sam Rivers wasn’t just our bass player – he was pure magic. The pulse beneath every song, the calm in the chaos, the soul in the sound.”
Frontman Durst later shared an emotional video message, where he called Rivers a “legend, truly”. He added: “Such a gifted, unbelievably sweet and wonderful person.”
A cause of death was not disclosed at the time. Yesterday (Tuesday October 21), TMZ reported that Rivers had suffered a cardiac arrest on October 18, and was “nonresponsive”.
“Deputies responded to an attended death at that address,” a spokesperson for the St. Johns County, Florida Fire Rescue told the outlet.
An “attended death” is when a person is already suffering from a life-threatening illness. Rivers had worn a “Fuck Cancer” T-shirt while performing with Limp Bizkit this year. However, the official cause of death currently remains unknown.
Additionally, it appears that Limp Bizkit are set to go ahead with their upcoming scheduled live shows. Their ‘Gringo Papi Tour’ with Yungblud, Riff Raff and more is scheduled to kick off in Mexico City on November 29.
Further dates are lined up across South America, with stops in San José, Bogotá, Lima, Santiago, Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo.
As The PRP reports, promoters for the Mexico City concert issued the following statement: “Limp Bizkit has decided to continue with its performance on November 29th at the Explanada Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, as part of its ‘Gringo Papi Tour‘ 2025.”
The message added: “That night, every riff and every scream of the crowd will resonate in honor of the great legacy Sam offered to to Nu-Metal, because his energy will never cease.”
Rivers’ final performances with Limp Bizkit took place at Reading & Leeds 2025 in August. The bassist had temporarily departed the band in 2015, before returning to the line-up in 2018.
In 2020, Rivers revealed that his exit five years earlier had been due to liver disease as a result of “excessive drinking”.
“I quit drinking and did everything the doctors told me,” he said. “I got treatment for the alcohol and got a liver transplant, which was a perfect match.”
Durst’s recent video tribute saw him recall meeting Rivers in the 1990s, when he was trying to put together a band in Jacksonville, Florida. He said he saw the musician “killing it on the bass” with another band in a small bar. “I went, ‘Oh my gosh, this guy is amazing’,” he continued.
He later added: “It’s so tragic that he’s not here right now, and I’ve gone through gallons and gallons of tears since yesterday. And I’m thinking, gosh, Sam’s a legend, you know? He did it, he lived it.”
