A recent health scare for Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist and co-founder Gary Rossington forced the band to cancel this weekend's Last of the Street Survivors Farewell Tour stops. The 67-year-old Southern rock legend underwent surgery on July 31 to repair a leaky heart valve.
The affected dates are Fri., Aug. 16 in Las Vegas and Sat., Aug. 17 in Wheatland, Cal. Makeup dates have already been announced for Oct. 18 and 19, respectively.
Rossington has openly admitted that his health played into the decision to plan a farewell tour. "My health isn't very great, so it's harder for me to tour these days, and everyone's got kids and families and grandkids now," he told Billboard in January 2018. "So we're just gonna kick back a little bit because of our age, and I just want to go out on a high note and make sure the band's name stays in high regard instead of going out and playing fairs and casinos and things like that. I want to live it still filling arenas and sheds like we still can."
Rossington, the band's only continuous member from its original run and an ongoing comeback that began in 1987, underwent quintuple bypass surgery in 2003 due to coronary artery disease and was hospitalized in 2015 following a heart attack.
Of the members appearing on Skynyrd albums released in the 1970s, only Rossington and former drummer Artemis Pyle are still alive. Both survived the 1977 plane crash that killed guitarist Steve Gaines, his sister and backup singer Cassie Gaines and lead singer Ronnie Van Zant. Their deaths were followed in the coming years by those of guitarist Allen Collins (1952-1990), bassist Leon Wilkeson (1952-2001), keyboardist Billy Powell (1952-2009), drummer Bob Burns (1950-2015) and guitarist Ed King (1949-2018).
Skynyrd's tour continues next Fri., Aug. 23 in Irvine, California, and includes an appearance on Oct. 11 at Manchester, Tennessee metal and hard rock weekender Exit 111 Festival.
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