Dead & Company drummer Bill Kreutzmann has announced that he will not be joining the band at their upcoming shows in Mexico. The band is scheduled to play at Playing in the Sand, a two-weekend festival in Cancun, Mexico, that is scheduled to take place on January 7-10 and January 13-16.

In a series of tweets, Kreutzmann revealed that he had been instructed by his doctors to take a break due to his ongoing cardiac condition.

“Playing in the Sand has become my favorite tour stop in recent years, and there’s so much about it that’s just so great,” Kreutzmann wrote. “And thus, it is with a heavy and still-recovering heart that I have to relay a note that I received from my doctor this morning, ordering me to sit this one out.”

Playing in the Sand has become my favorite tour stop in recent years and there’s so much about it that’s just so great. And thus, it is with a heavy and still recovering heart that I have to relay a note that I received from my doctor this morning…
(1/4) pic.twitter.com/c72spzYC7U

— Bill Kreutzmann (@BKreutzmann) January 3, 2022

Drummer Jay Lane is expected to fill in for Kreutzman at the upcoming festival shows. Kreutzmann also missed several shows last year due to undisclosed health issues. “After a lifetime of playing special beats, it’s almost no wonder that my heart came up with its own idea of rhythm,” he said.

“I wish my brothers in the band the best these next two weeks, and I look forward to meeting back up with them — and with you — before you know it,” Kreutzmann concluded. “Please stay safe out there so that we can do it all again. And again.”

Kreutzmann was a founding member of the iconic Grateful Dead in 1965.