Tony MacAlpine says 'all is well' after colon cancer diagnosis

Tony MacAlpine
Tony MacAlpine

Tony MacAlpine says “all is well in medical land” after he was diagnosed with colon cancer last year.

The guitar virtuoso has planned a run of solo shows in the west coast of the US – and will also support Steve Vai on his Passion And Warfare 25th Anniversary Tour.

MacAlpine says: “It’s been a while since I have reached out to you, but now the good fortune of health and timing is allowing me to do so. I have been feeling back to normal and tests indicate that all is well in medical land. Deep and sincere thanks to you all for your wonderful support through this very difficult last 12 months.

“I will be playing a run of US west coast shows in October with my trio of drummer Aquiles Priester and bassist Bjorn Englen. There will be some solo and headline shows, and some very cool shows supporting Steve Vai.

“We are looking forward to seeing you at the shows. I will be playing some carefully selected material from my repertoire. The band and I are very anxious to play for even more of you around the world in the next 12 months.”

A live video of MacAlpine performing the track Confessions Of A Medieval Monument was released in June. The song was lifted from his latest album, Concrete Gardens.

He also said he’d be in the studio throughout August and September working on another instrumental record. Further release details will be revealed in due course.

Tony MacAlpine US tour 2016

Oct 07: Studio City Baked Potato, CA (headline show)
Oct 08: Riverside Fox Performing Arts Center, CA
Oct 09: Las Vegas House Of Blues, NV
Oct 11: San Diego House Of Blues, CA
Oct 12: Ventura Theater, CA
Oct 13: San Francisco Fillmore, CA
Oct 14: Sacramento Ace Of Spades, CA Oct 16: Portland Revolution Hall, OR
Oct 17: Seattle Studio Seven, WA (headline show)
Oct 20: San Diego Brick By Brick, CA (headline show)
Oct 28: San Pedro Alvas Showroom, CA (headline show)

Steve Vai, Mike Portnoy set for MacAlpine benefit

Former TeamRock news desk member Christina joined our team in late 2015, and although her time working on online rock news was fairly brief, she made a huge impact by contributing close to 1500 stories. Christina also interviewed artists including Deftones frontman Chino Moreno and worked at the Download festival. In late 2016, Christina left rock journalism to pursue a career in current affairs. In 2021, she was named Local Weekly Feature Writer of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards.