Heart and Pearl Jam both have health issues forcing concert cancellations

Summer should be a time of fun, including going to gigs and forgetting about life for a while. Music fans get the gifts of songs from their favorite musical artists and the performers get to make a living. It is a trade-off both sides are more than happy to live with.

Sometimes, though, it is easy to forget that musicians are people, too. Sure, they create the kind of sounds most of us can only dream about making, but they are not superhuman. Well, most of them are not anyway. They deal with illness just like the rest of us. Some issues are more serious than others.

Heart, for instance, has had to cancel all their upcoming tour due to the health of Ann Wilson. The 74-year-old vocalist and the band recently announced that the reason for the gigs being canceled was because Wilson needed to have an urgent, but routine, medical procedure. Turns out that she had a small operation that resulted in the removal of some cancerous tissue.

Pearl Jam and Heart forced to cancel gigs due to health concerns

After undergoing preventive chemotherapy, Wilson hopes to return to touring. The good news is that a full recovery is possible. There, of course, is no timeline on when the canceled concerts will be rescheduled.

In slightly more mysterious, but not less serious, news, Pearl Jam had to cancel two shows in London at the end of June and then needed to cancel two gigs in Berlin to begin July. The reason is an undisclosed illness with either several members of the band or just one member. The band has been mum about who is sick and what the illness is.

Whatever the illness, it is significant enough that the sickness lasts for some time and is serious enough that the band cannot perform. A press release from the band put things in more general terms saying, "Despite everyone's best efforts, the band has yet to make a full recovery."

That, of course, makes it seem as if the entire band is ill which would be odd. Maybe an illness is simply being passed around. Let's hope nothing more serious is happening.

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