SYDNEY, Australia (Sony Music Australia) - Franz Ferdinand bass player Bob Hardy was rushed to hospital in Japan on the weekend with a case of gastro, leaving Franz to wow Nagoya fans with a half acoustic/half-plugged in set - Dino from support band The Beat Up filled in on bass duties.

Franz Ferdinand's bass player extrordinaire Bob Hardy has been hospitalised in Japan, in the middle of the band's sell-out tour of the nation. Diagnosed with a nasty case of gastroenteritis, Bob is currently recovering in a Tokyo hospital, but will discharge himself to play Franz's show at Tokyo's Shibuya Ax tonight. He will return to hospital after the gig for a few more days R&R, before jetting off to New York to join the rest of the band on their forthcoming US tour.

"Bob had started to feel ill on the Friday night during the journey to Osaka. He completed the show at the Mother Hall the following evening, Saturday, in considerable pain and for the most part seated. He was then taken to hospital in Osaka that evening where he was diagnosed and admitted for the night. He was then transferred to a Tokyo hospital on Sunday 28th November," the band said in official statement issued yesterday.

Bob will miss the Franz's first two US dates in Detroit and Philadelphia but is expected to be back in fighting form by the time the band hit New Jersey. Fiery Furnaces bassist Toshi Yano will stand in on bass for the first two US shows.

Franz, meanwhile, still managed to put on a spectacular gig at Nagoya's Diamond Hall on Sunday night without Bob, playing a half-acoustic/half-plugged in set with Dino from support band The Beat Up doing a stellar job figuring out the basslines pretty damn fast to save the show. The band played four songs with Dino - 'Michael', 'Take Me Out', 'Cheating On You' and 'Tell Her Tonight', while the remaining eight were delivered acoustically, including two new songs 'Walk Away' and 'Jeremy Fraser'.

Their efforts to continue with the show, regardless of their line-up, went down a treat with their adoring Japanese fans. One impressed devotee commented to nme.com, "the band obviously really cared about the Nagoya crowd and tried the hardest to put on a special show which they certainly did. I haven't sweated so much since Faith No More at Brixton Academy in 1990!"