The Slayer and Megadeth show scheduled for January 22 at the Long Beach Arena has been postponed; Slayer bassist/vocalist Tom Araya is scheduled for back surgery at the end of January.
Booking agents for both Slayer and Megadeth are already hard at work rescheduling a date for the January 22nd show at Long Beach Arena. Those holding tickets are asked to be patient and sit tight as more information will be announced as progress is made. The headbanging Araya, known for aggressively swinging his long mane of hair while performing, began experiencing back problems while on the band's Australian/New Zealand/Japanese tour last October. In spite of his rapidly increasing pain and discomfort, he carried on with the tour, but immediately upon returning home saw an orthopedic specialist who diagnosed a Cervical Radiculopathy. The rocker initially did not want to take the major surgery route, so the specialist recommended a series of minimally-invasive procedures. While those procedures have resulted in some improvement, Araya continues to deal with intermittent bouts of severe pain, numbness and muscle spasms. The surgical procedure that Araya will undergo, called an Anterior Cervical Discectomy with Fusion, is a relatively routine practice and the recovery rate is excellent.
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