Last week, rock star Bruce Springsteen announced he was canceling his September tour dates to get treated for a peptic ulcer. Such an announcement seems freakish for such a fiery rock musician – until you realize that he’s 73 and that they typically flare up in those who have elongated use of over-the-counter painkillers such as ibuprofen or aspirin (which can be used to mask the aches and pains that come with 50+ years playing music on the road).
While The Boss has powered through his lengthy international tour and has been playing to sold-out stadiums with the same feist he had 20 years ago, an aging rock musician publicly dealing with…well, age – is becoming more of a common occurrence as the genres defining greats grow old.
Last summer in Michigan, 75-year-old genre-defying guitarist Carlos Santana collapsed on stage while introducing a song, alarming his audience and crew. While the medical staff tended to him for 20 minutes, the rest of the show was canceled. The cause was due to extreme heat exhaustion and dehydration, an ailment that can happen to anyone, but is more common in older age groups due to lack of thirst sensation and changes in water and sodium balance.
Grateful Dead rhythm guitarist and torch-carrier of the bands iconic energy and lore Bob Weir too, collapsed on stage at the Capitol Theater in Port Chester, New York in 2013 when he was 65. While fans reported him playing a less than stellar first set, fumbling through lyrics of well-known fan-favorites, Weir then stumbled on stage and fell back, then to be escorted away. While the cause was shared as a shoulder injury, it isn’t common knowledge that Weir had been dealing with back problems as well, from the motion of strumming a guitar while standing. Perhaps a wake-up call, ten years later Bob is 75 and in better shape than he has been in decades, always sharing workout videos while on the road.
We’ve seen another Bob (Dylan) trip on stage. Meat Loaf slumped in front of a crowd in Canada. Keith Richards tripped over his guitar cord and sprawled across the stage. Willie Nelson has emphysema. The list goes on.
In the most severe scenarios, you have guys like rhythm & blues and funk pioneer Johnny “Guitar” Watson, and rock and jam pioneer Colonel Bruce Hampton literally die on stage in front of an audience- both of heart attacks. While something is eerily romantic about having an artist pass away doing what they love with the people that they love – it’s not an optimal way of going out.
So while watching our aging rock legends occasionally stumble through a song, or maybe not sound exactly like they did 50 years ago, it’s important to remember that music is not only their profession, but their life. Bruce, the Bobs, The Stones, the list goes on – that entire generation of musicians grew up doing what they love – making music. Most of them have never had a day job, working tirelessly for years and years to do exactly what they’re doing today – creating and sharing art from their heart with anyone who’ll care to listen. Music is their passion. Their love. Their everything.
So please, go and enjoy ‘em while you can, because they won’t be here forever, after all.