Ronnie James Dio might have been healthy enough to appear at the Revolver Golden Gods Awards a few weeks back when he surprised the audience by showing up, but sadly, that doesn’t necessarily translate to the concert stage. Heaven and Hell has been forced to pull off of all of their upcoming performances due to RJD’s battle with cancer. The band had been scheduled to play a handful of European festivals, including all of the Sonisphere Festivals. Here’s the official band statement.
“We have to announce that all forthcoming HEAVEN & HELL European shows have been cancelled as sadly [vocalist] Ronnie [James Dio, who was diagnosed with stomach cancer in November 2009] isn’t well enough to tour this summer. We hope that everyone understands and want to thank fans and industry colleagues for their continuing support at this time.”
He sure talked a good game in a recent TV interview, where he said he was going to “kick the hell out of” cancer. If there’s any man that we wouldn’t doubt on following through on that promise, it would be Ronnie James Dio. We wish him a speedy recovery. With all due respect to the Prince of Darkness, what kind of world do we live in where Ozzy’s playing six more shows than Heaven and Hell?
