Per an Instagram post from yesterday (July 23), John Prine has cancelled eight dates on his summer tour to undergo a stent surgery. Per the statement, Prine's doctors suggested the surgery because he "has an elevated risk for stroke."
Prine's team expects a "full and speedy recovery" from the operation, which is scheduled for this week. The affected dates in Utah, the Pacific Northwest and Canada will be rescheduled. Prine's June 28 show at Red Rocks in Colorado already has a Sept. 18 makeup date, and he's scheduled for the 2020 Edmonton Folk Festival to make up for missing his 2019 set. Purchased tickets will be accepted at makeup dates, and refunds are currently available for cancelled shows.
Prine rose to fame as a '70s singer-songwriter, and he's enjoyed a career resurgence in recent years as a hero and peer to Jason Isbell, Amanda Shires, Margo Price and other Nashville outsiders. In those years, he's beat cancer twice. In 1998, surgery and radiation therapy to combat a squamous cell cancer in his neck forced him into speech therapy and forever altered his voice. In 2013, he defeated lung cancer.
Based on his tour schedule, Prine is expected to recover in time for a late August trip to Europe and a string of October dates with Kelsey Waldon, the newest signee to his Oh Boy record label.
Cancelled John Prine Tour Dates
July 28 — Morrison, Colorado— Red Rocks Amphitheatre (Rescheduled for September18, 2019)
July 30 — Salt Lake City, Utah— Red Butte Gardens
August 2 — Portland, Oregon— Oregon Zoo
August 4 — Seattle, Washington— Woodland Park Zoo
August 6 — Vancouver, British Columbia— Queen Elizabeth Amphitheatre
August 8 — Banff, Alberta— Shaw Amphitheatre
August 9 — Calgary, Alberta— Jack Singer PAC
August 11 — Edmonton, AB @ Edmonton Folk Festival (Rescheduled for August 9, 2020)
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