Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh battling bladder cancer

Grateful Dead bassist and founding member Phil Lesh, 75, has canceled concerts on October 24th and 25th after revealing that he is battling bladder cancer. “I am very fortunate to have the pathology reports show that the tumors are all non-aggressive, and that there is no indication that they have spread”, Lesh said. However, once he has the surgery and since the doctors told him he can return to normal activity within two weeks after surgery to remove the tumors, he says he will reschedule the shows after that. While he participated in the recent Fare Thee Well shows, he is the one member of the band that has not carried on as Dead & Company which also features guitarist John Mayer.

He expects Phil and Friends to be back on the road by the end of the month, keeping six shows at Port Chester, New York’s Capitol Theatre set to kick off on October 30 on his itinerary. He had Chris Robinson from The Black Crowes scheduled to be featured at the shows. The San Francisco group disbanded in the mid-1990s and Lesh went on to form his own music group Phil & Friends. In Jul., the 4 surviving members of the Grateful Lifeless, together with Lesh, gave what they stated will probably be their last group performance at Chicago’s Soldier Field.

The unfortunate bassist also suffered from prostate cancer nearly ten years ago, but seems confident of a fairly straightforward recovery from his latest problems, talking about a return in short order.

In 1998 Lesh underwent a liver transplant after a hepatitis C infection – after which he has regularly used his concerts as a platform to encourage fans to become organ donors.