Lynyrd Skynyrd/Sammy Hagar Tour Interrupted For Medical Reason

08/04/2003 5:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
LAUNCH Radio Networks

(8/4/03, 5 p.m. ET) -- The Lynyrd Skynyrd/Sammy Hagar Party Of A Lifetime tour is taking an unplanned break for medical reasons. Skynyrd founder and guitarist Gary Rossington has been ordered to take some time off due to medical fatigue relating to his heart surgery in late February.

While Rossington was given the all-clear to go on tour earlier this year, being on the road is wearing him down, so he had to take a break. Rossington is expected back on Friday (August 8), when the tour resumes at the C.W. Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands, Texas.

Before the tour began, Rossington told LAUNCH that he was very frightened at the time of the surgery. "It was very, very scary--especially nowadays, you know?" Rossington said. "I got two daughters, and the band, and the family, and all that stuff. It was real heavy for everybody, but for me, it was probably the heaviest thing I've ever done you know? It was [a] real serious operation, and I laid in the hospital awhile thinking about everything, and I just thank God for still being here and being able to do what I do and live on this great planet, you know?"

In a statement, Hagar said, "We wish Gary a speedy recovery so he can get back on the road with us and kick some ass."

Four shows had to be postponed--last Friday (August 1) at the Oak Mountain Amphitheatre in Pelham, Alabama; Saturday (August 2) at the HiFi Buys Amphitheatre in Atlanta; Sunday (August 3) at the William Floyd Amphitheatre in Anderson, South Carolina; and Tuesday (August 5) at the South East Texas Entertainment Complex in Beaumont, Texas. In addition, Hagar and his Waboritas band will play the Concrete Street Amphitheatre in Corpus Christi, Texas, without Skynyrd on Wednesday (August 6).

Lynyrd Skynyrd will return to Atlanta without Hagar on September 10, and they're also looking at another date in September to make up the Anderson, South Carolina show. However, the dates in Pelham, Alabama, and Beaumont, Texas have been dropped due to routing problems.

The Party Of A Lifetime tour is currently scheduled to end on August 17 at the Reno Hilton Amphitheatre in Reno, Nevada.

Skynyrd is touring behind their new studio album Vicious Cycle, while Hagar is out supporting the concert set Live Hallelujah.

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