UPDATE: 5:15pm EST: A spokesman for Alice in Chains tells Vanyaland, "He's totally fine. Was actually a minor outpatient procedure." Our original post is below...
Last night in Los Angeles, an all-star assembly of rock and metal musicians came together to pay tribute to late Pantera guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott. But while most of the headlines this morning centered around the one-off supergroups at the Monster Energy Ride For Dime Dimebash 2016, one bit of news caught our attention: Alice in Chains guitarist/vocalist Jerry Cantrell didn't take part because he was allegedly in the emergency room.
Before performing Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here", Robb Flynn of Machine Head told the Lucky Strike Live Crowd the following, according to Blabbermouth: "Jerry Cantrell and I have been rehearsing this song all week. Jerry Cantrell was supposed to be with us. He went to the emergency room, unfortunately, tonight, couldn't be here. This song's gonna go out to him. Dave Grohl was nice enough to fill in for him."
Flynn and Grohl were rounded out on stage by Roy Mayorga of Stone Sour, and you can watch video of the performance below.
But more importantly, what's the deal with the 49-year-old Cantrell? Was he actually hospitalized? Was he just visiting someone? Was Flynn just kidding?
No one seems to know, but Cantrell and Alice In Chains were included in all of the promotion for the event.
As we await more information, check out a bunch of other fan-filmed videos from Ride For Dime Dimebash below, including Pantera's Philip Anselmo, Grohl, Robert Trujillo of Metallica, and Slayer's Dave Lombardo covering Motorhead's "Ace of Spades". Proceeds from the event were slated to benefit the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund.