Jason Newsted axes shows after falling ill

Former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted and his solo band have been forced to cancel a handful of upcoming shows after the star was diagnosed with walking pneumonia. The 50 year old and his group Newsted were slated to perform throughout Canada this week (begs22Jul13) as part of their Gigantour with Megadeath and Black Label Society, but now they have pulled out of gigs in Manitoba, British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan to allow the frontman more time to recover.
In a post on Twitter.com on Saturday (20Jul13), the rocker wrote, “I’d been feeling a bit under the weather while performing the most recent Gigantour shows, so I went to the doctor on my day off today and I was diagnosed with walking pneumonia! So under doctor’s orders, I’m taking a week to rebuild…
“My apologies to our Canadian brothers and sisters in regions where we will not be appearing this week. I’m gonna work on keeping me alive so together we can keep the metal alive!”