When Sir Tom Jones contracted a severe upper respiratory infection in July and had to postpone a show in Germany, he apologized to disappointed fans and promised to make it up to them.

On Wednesday night (Nov. 4), during his rescheduled show at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on the Come Gather Round tour, 86-year-old Jones described how his latest health scare had left him fearing the worst. The show had originally been scheduled for Oct. 26 and was postponed after he contracted the flu.

“[I thought], ‘Oh, well, this is it,’” he told the crowd at the Greek, according to BBC News. “‘You’ve had a wonderful life, Tommy, but it’s over right now.” Jones reportedly spent a week at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles for an illness described at the time as a “bad case of the flu.” The illness led to the rescheduling of shows in Los Angeles and San Diego.

Doctors ordered Jones to rest, leading him to reschedule another California show. On doctors’ advice, he also postponed performances in Sacramento and San Francisco.

“I must say this, in the UCLA, they really did a wonderful job. So I’m here,” he told the Los Angeles audience. “[The medical staff said] ‘What do you want to do now?’ I was there for a week. And I said, ‘I’ve got to get back on the stage.’ This is where I belong. I can’t live without this, believe me.’”

Jones’ next scheduled performance was a rescheduled show at Yaamava’ Theater in Highland, California, on Friday night (Nov. 6).