Five Finger Death Punch forced to cancel show after guitarist Jason Hook undergoes emergency gallbladder surgery
Las Vegas heavy metal band Five Finger Death Punch unexpectedly canceled the Minnesota leg of their international winter tour barely an hour before the concert doors were opened due to a last-minute medical emergency with the band's lead guitarist, Jason Hook. More details are still being awaited.
Also known as 5FDP, the five-piece are well known with fans the world over for their melodic thrash metal grooves and punishing touring schedule. They tend to sound and operate like a well-oiled machine. So it came as a surprise when the band unexpectedly canceled the December 12 show at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center on Thursday evening, in Duluth, Minnesota. The DECC took to Twitter just after 5:30 p.m. to announce that the show would be unfortunately postponed due to Jason Hook's illness.
Due to a medical emergency with Jason Hook, tonight’s show in Duluth, MN is postponed. Please visit https://t.co/4MP4vVCHtf for more information as it becomes available.
— DECC Duluth, MN (@DuluthDECC) December 12, 2019
More details are expected shortly, and the band's social media will certainly be updated as more develops. The band encourages fans to stay tuned to FiveFingerDeathPunch.com for more information as it becomes available, but right now there are no additional details on what happened to Hook or how serious his medical condition may be.
However, it has been reported on Youtube that some fans who were present at one of their previous shows might have more clues as to what might have done Hook in. Putting two and two together, these keen-eyed fans have been speculating that since the vocalist Ivan Moody was complaining of feeling the effects of flu at last night's show, and Hook was also looking a little bit under the weather, it's entirely possible that the lead axeman has caught the flu and was feeling the debilitating symptoms as well.
It has been a rather biting winter after all, and we're sure the show would have gone on if the problem had been minor. Regardless, let's wish Hook a speedy recovery from whatever is ailing him and we hope the band will be able to resume their unrelenting international touring regime sooner rather than later.
Update: Turns out it was Jason Hook's gallbladder that had taken a turn for the worse and needed to be removed.
Five Finger Death Punch posted an update on their guitarist's medical status and also postponed the last three dates on their U.S. tour so that Hook can recover from emergency gallbladder surgery. The affected dates were the December 14th show in Omaha, Nebraska, and the December 15th show in Des Moines, Iowa.
The band promised to return to these venues with rescheduled tour dates soon. "Well that sucked! -- Gallbladder went #kaput ... sorry Duluth MN, some things you just can’t control..." Hook posted on his Twitter account along with a shirtless selfie where he appears to be fresh out of surgery. "We'll be back to kick some ass, and make up the other dates as soon as we can! I very much appreciate all the kind notes of caring and support ---- one thing I know for sure is we have the greatest fan base of all time! Long live the #knuckleheads ~ Hook"
FFDP plan to take the rest of the year off and then hit the road again on January 14 with a show in Kyiv, Ukraine. The band will kick off their spring North American arena tour with Ice Nine Kills, Papa Roach and I Prevail on April 8 in Sunrise, Florida in support of their latest album, 'F8', which is out on February 28th.
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