Over the weekend, Fleetwood Mac announced the cancellation of the Australia and New Zealand legs of their current tour.
The reason? John McVie, the band's bassist and co-founder, is being treated for cancer.
"Fleetwood Mac, who has just completed the European leg of their phenomenally successful worldwide tour has announced the cancellation of their upcoming 14-date tour of Australia and New Zealand," the band announced via their Facebook page.
"John McVie, one of the co-founding and original members of Fleetwood Mac, is now scheduled to be in treatment for cancer during that period of time. We are sorry to not be able to play these Australian and New Zealand dates. We hope our Australian and New Zealand fans as well as Fleetwood Mac fans everywhere will join us in wishing John and his family all the best."
Last month in London, when Fleetwood Mac kicked off the European leg of their tour, longtime keyboardist/singer Christine McVie rejoined the band for the first time since 1998. McVie was married to John McVie from 1968 to 1977.
Fleetwood Mac recently released Extended Play, a four-song EP of new material.
"We're doing the best business we've done in 20 years," guitarist Lindsey Buckingham told Rolling Stone in May. "There seems to be a cyclical re-igniting of interests, and there's certainly a lot more young people out there than three years ago."
McVie has been in Fleetwood Mac since its 1967 inception, back when guitarist Peter Green was at the helm. McVie met Green during their brief time together in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers.
“Jimmy Page said, ‘If you want to go work straight away, do the Ozzy gig. If not, we’d love to have you’”: Phil Soussan is one of the ultimate bass journeymen – he looks back at his storied career, and why he picked Ozzy Osbourne over Jimmy Page
“Would I play it for a whole show? Absolutely not! I’m so happy to get that thing off. It’s brutal”: ZZ Top’s Elwood Francis on his latest weird bass acquisition – the 15-string ‘High Selecta’ bass
