Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry has cancelled all of his upcoming North American tour dates, which were scheduled to begin later this month on November 30th with a gig in Sioux City, Iowa. The announcement comes comes a little over a week after Perry was hospitalized after reportedly collapsing backstage during a Billy Joel concert at Madison Square Garden back on November 10th. Perry was invited to sit in with Joel during the show for a rendition of Aerosmith’s funky 1975 anthem, “Walk This Way”. Perry made it through the performance and was already back in his guest dressing room when he collapsed and even required oxygen assistance before first responders took him to a local hospital.
“Just wanted to thank everyone for all of the kind messages I’ve received this week,” Perry shared in a statement posted to his social media outlets on Tuesday evening. “I’m home and doing well, but the doctor recommends a bit more downtime before getting out to rock again, so regrettably I had to cancel my upcoming tour dates. Was really looking forward to playing these shows with Brad and Gary and seeing all of you who were planning to come out and support us. We will be back out as soon as possible.”
“Brad and Gary,” as Perry mentioned in the statement, are in reference to his Aerosmith bandmate Brad Whitford and former Extreme/Van Halen singer Gary Cherone, who were scheduled to join him on the 10-date winter tour. Cherone is also the featured vocalist on “Quake”, one of the singles on Perry’s 2018 solo album, Sweetzerland Manifesto. The tour was initially scheduled to run throughout most of December before wrapping just in time for the holidays on December 16th.
News of the cancellation could come with larger worries for classic rock fans. Perry’s collapse at MSG earlier this month was the second time he’s required emergency services during a concert in as many years. The 68-year-old Joe Perry collapsed on-stage in July 2016 while playing a show with rock supergroup The Hollywood Vampires in Brooklyn. At the time, Perry’s health situation was diagnosed simply as exhaustion. Aerosmith is scheduled to begin a Las Vegas residency beginning this April, followed by their 50th anniversary and a possible farewell tour in 2020.
— Joe Perry (@JoePerry) November 21, 2018