Beastie Boys cancel major festival dates, postpone album release

Adam "MCA" Yauch of the Beastie Boys

Credit: AP Photo/Evan Agostini

Beastie Boys are postponing the release of "Hot Sauce Committee Part 1" and major festival tour dates as Adam "MCA" Yauch prepares to undergo treatment for a cancerous tumor found in his left salivary gland.

Yauch, with fellow Beastie Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz on hand, spoke out in a video posted to the group's website. He explains that he felt a lump in his throat a few months ago and finally checked in with a doctor two weeks ago. He expects to have surgery next week. "It's a pain in the ass, but is very treatable in most cases... It's not anywhere else in my body."

In typical Beastie Boy fashion, the sad announcement was delivered with jokes at the end, with Yauch encouraging Horovitz to join a country band, now that's he's grown a beard.

Recovery is expected to take months. The album was set to be released on Sept. 15. The group was schedule to headline several festivals this summer, including All Points West in New Jersey on July 31, Lollapalooza on Aug. 7 in Chicago, Outside Lands in San Francisco on Aug. 30 and Austin City Limits on Oct. 2. They had long sold-out the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles for Sept. 24.

"I just need to take a little time to get this in check, and then we'll release the record and play some shows," Yauch said in a press statement. "It's a pain in the neck (sorry had to say it) because i was really looking forward to playing these shows, but the doctors have made it clear that this is not the kind of thing that can be put aside to deal with later."

Katie Hasty
Managing Editor

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After five years as a columnist and editor at Billboard, Katie Hasty joined HitFix in 2009 for music and film reporting out of New York. The Midwest native has worked as a writer, music promoter and in A&R since 1999 and performs with her band Numbers And Letters.