Former Sonic Youth Guitarist Thurston Moore Cancels U.S. Book Tour Due to ‘Debilitating’ Health Issue

11 October, 2023

Thurston Moore was gearing up to launch a 10-date speaking tour of the U.S. to promote his upcoming memoir about his life as one of the front people of the pioneering 1980s guitar noise rock band Sonic Youth, Sonic Life, before the guitarist was forced to cancel the entire run due to a serious health issue.

The plug was pulled on the tour — which was slated to kick off on Oct. 24 in Jersey City and run through a Nov. 4 gig in San Francisco — on Tuesday (Oct. 10), with Moore explaining that his doctors told him it was unsafe to fly at this time. “It utterly bereaves me to pass on the news that I have been advised by my medical team here in the UK to cancel my upcoming USA book tour,” wrote Moore on Instagram. “For years I have been dealing with a longstanding health condition, though it has never seriously stopped me from touring and recording. Regardless it’s always been an underlying issue and as I reach my mid-60s this year it has become rather, and consistently, debilitating. After a recent consultation, my doctors have strongly advised against me flying anywhere under any circumstance until they get it all sorted out.”

At press time the London-based Moore had not provided additional details on his condition.

Moore said the decision to cancel has been “utterly distressing” following several years of intense writing and editing of the Penguin Random House books that is described as “a passionate memoir tracing the author’s life and art—from his teen years as a music obsessive in small-town Connecticut, to the formation of his legendary rock group, to thirty years of creation, experimentation, and wonder.”

Moore co-founded the experimental guitar band in New York in 1981 with his ex-wife, singer/bassist/guitarist Kim Gordon and guitarist/singer Lee Ranaldo; the group broke up in 2011.

The publisher promises that the book will offer a firsthand account of New York during an explosive time of creativity, providing “a history of alternative rock as it was birthed and came to dominate airwaves, and a love letter to music, whatever the form. This is a story for anyone who has ever felt touched by sound — who knows the way the right song at the right moment can change the course of a life.”

Sonic Life is due out on Oct. 24.

Check out Moore’s post below.