\\<\/iframe\>
To be clear, Buckethead’s newly diagnosed heart problem doesn’t have anything to do with the bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken he wears on his head onstage. The diagnosis, which the reclusive guitarist recently shared with fans, is pretty serious, though.
“I have a heart problem where my heart beats out of rhythm. It’s been doing it for a long time, but recently it just really kicked up and became really intense. I really didn’t know what was going on,” the 49-year-old virtuoso said on podcast Coming Alive. Doctors even suggested that he undergo a procedure called an ablation where they go in and freeze a patient’s heart.
“I just tried to deal with it and let it do what it did, and eventually it would stop. But it got really intense, so I went to the doctor and they said, ‘You’re on the verge of having a stroke.’”
We’re not saying that his mortality should be the reason you go see Buckethead in Ybor, but you can’t say that he didn’t try to tell you that things have been better in the health department.
8 p.m. Saturday | Orpheum, 1915 E. 7th Ave., Ybor City | 813-248-9500 | theorpheum.com
Get our top picks for the best events in Tampa Bay every Thursday morning by bookmaking cltampa.com/musicweek.
This article appears in May 17-24, 2018.