Band had to cancel upcoming tour dates after drummer suffered unspecified “medical emergency”
Less than a week after Alice in Chains canceled the remainder of their upcoming tour dates due to drummer Sean Kinney’s unspecified “medical emergency,” Kinney says he’s doing fine.
“The good news is that I’m going to be fine and I’m going to live,” he wrote on the band’s social media page. “The bad news (for some of you?) is that I’m going to be fine and I’m going to live.”
Although he didn’t specify exactly what happened to him (“I’m not particularly fond of my health issues being made public,” he wrote), he recognized that Alice in Chains’ fans would be concerned about his well-being. What he was willing to say about his diagnosis was that it sent him through his own version of Swiss American psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s model of the five stages of grief. It went from “I’m fine” (denial) to “This sucks, but OK” (acceptance.) “I was very much looking forward to getting back out there and playing with the band again, and it’s been a difficult but necessary decision to make,” he wrote.
Kinney also apologized to fans who purchased tickets to gigs that were canceled. “It’s not lost on the band and myself that you spend money, make plans, and alter your schedules to come and see us, and it’s deeply disappointing to have had this happen,” he said.
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Ultimately, he just had to follow his doctors’ advice. “I finally concluded that medical doctors with many hard-earned degrees on their walls might know a bit more about health than a musician with some shiny spray-painted records on his wall,” he wrote. “The outpouring of love, concern, and well wishes has been both extremely humbling and very much appreciated.”
In addition to the band’s regular tour dates, Alice in Chains will miss appearances at the Sonic Temple and Welcome to Rockville festivals. The band is also scheduled to appear at Ozzy Osbourne’s final concert in July. “Sean’s health is our top priority at this moment,” the band said when it announced the decision to cancel the dates.
