Watch: MUDVAYNE's CHAD GRAY Returns To Live Stage After Canceling Two Shows Due To Vocal Injury

After canceling two shows in California due to his recent vocal injury, MUDVAYNE and HELLYEAH frontman Chad Gray resumed his solo tour Wednesday night (October 7) at the Fremont Country Club in Las Vegas, Nevada. Fan-filmed video of the concert can be seen below.

A few hours prior to the Las Vegas show, Chad shared a video message via his social media in which he offered an update on his health, including his plans to complete his solo trek, which is scheduled to end on October 20 in Nashville, Tennessee. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): " What's up, everybody? It's Chad here. I just kind of wanted to bring everybody up to date on my health and stuff and what's going on.

"So, basically from the beginning of this tour, my voice was never feeling right," he explained. "Anybody that's been doing this as long as I have, anybody that's doing it for half as long as I have, knows when there's just something that's not right with your voice and just that something is missing. And I knew it was more than allergies or whatever. I thought it was allergies at the beginning, but as we started traveling on the tour, it just never really got any better. So I was working with my coach. She told me that she didn't know what was going on, but I needed to get looked at. So I went to a doctor, an ENT [ear, nose and throat] surgeon in New York, and got scoped there. He said that I had a lot of inflammation. I had a broken blood vessel on my vocal cord, which means at some point my voice has hemorrhaged and bled. So at that point I just had a couple of more shows to play. Again, the voice was not feeling good and me just trying to do whatever I could do to compensate — dropping an octave, going down to a little lower notes and stuff. So, I had two shows left and then I had 11 days off. So I went home and rested for that 11 days and I got scoped two more times by a doctor in Las Vegas, Dr. Salinas. And from the first time he saw me to the second time he saw me, he said he was seeing improvement, and it looked like the inflammation was going down and that it was okay to kind of proceed on, but I just had to do it with like extreme caution, as it could affect my voice, maybe permanently, if I were to go too far."

Gray added: "So, my wife was actually sick and I ended up getting her cold and then ended up showing up at Aftershock with everything that was going on and then with this cold on top of it too. So, at that point it was just, like, I was on my ass. I could barely make sound and just thought it was best for me to cancel the two California shows — for me and for you. I wasn't at close to my best, and I just needed to rest and, obviously, recuperate from the sickness. So that's what I did. I'm feeling better. I mean, I'm still a little under the weather, but I'm coming out of it. But I'm going back out on the road. I'm starting back today, tonight, so we'll just see how it goes. But tonight's Las Vegas, Texas, we're coming for you. And we're gonna keep moving this thing across the country. So, everybody, if you have a chance, please come out and support me, and let's have a blast with me and the BUTCHER BABIES and DEVIL'S CUT. Until I see you again, please stay safe, stay happy, stay healthy, and as always, stay heavy metal. Be well."

Earlier this month, Chad told The Jesea Lee Show that he was "scared to death" of causing permanent damage to his vocal cords. "It's not only my instrument — it's my life, it's my career, it's what I do for a living," he explained. "The idea of the potential fatality of this is enormous. But you gotta take care of it. And it's a hurry-up-and-wait thing. The only thing that's gonna heal it is time."

Regarding whether doctors have recommended surgery to repair the damage to his throat, Chad said: "Not at this point. But I think I'm gonna need one, though, to deal with that larger fold. So, yeah. I don't know. But, yeah, not to bring everybody down. But life-wise, I'm good. Health-wise, I'm good. Just my throat's fucked up."

Gray is currently celebrating his 30-year career with the "30 Years Of Madnesss" (sic) tour. These unique events feature Gray performing hits of MUDVAYNE and HELLYEAH with a backing band consisting of Marcus Rafferty (touring guitarist for MUDVAYNE) on guitar, Devin Attard on drums, Nick Villarreal on bass, and Joe Bonasorte on guitar. Support on the trek is coming from BUTCHER BABIES and DEVIL'S CUT.

Gray launched his "30 Years Of Madnesss" series of live appearances on April 24 at the Fremont Country Club in Las Vegas, Nevada. The gig saw Gray backed by HELLYEAH guitarist Christian Brady, Raffety, Attard, Bonasorte and Villarreal, among other musicians.

The "30 Years Of Madnesss" concerts mark Chad's first-ever solo performances and are taking place during a year when MUDVAYNE is not scheduled to do any touring. It is also an opportunity for Gray to play songs from HELLYEAH, which has been inactive since early 2020 when its U.S. tour was canceled in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the meantime, Gray had reunited with his previous band MUDVAYNE, which played its first two shows in 12 years in 2021 and has since completed several tours, in addition to releasing two new songs, "Hurt People Hurt People" and "Sticks And Stones".

MUDVAYNE guitarist Greg Tribbett sat out the band's summer/fall 2025 "L.D. 50 25th Anniversary" tour after his wife reportedly lost her year-and-a-half-long battle with cancer. The "L.D. 50 25th Anniversary" tour kicked off on September 11, 2025 in Dubuque, Iowa and concluded on October 26, 2025 in Uncasville, Connecticut.

In 2024, Greg sat out the remaining shows on MUDVAYNE's "Destroy All Enemies" tour with MEGADETH due to what at the time was described as a "family issue". Filling in for him was Rafferty, who has served as a guitar tech for several metal bands over the years, including LAMB OF GOD and HATEBREED. He also worked for HELLYEAH, which originally featured both Tribbett and Gray.

"Sticks And Stones" and "Hurt People Hurt People" were released through Alchemy Recordings, a record label created in partnership between Dino Paredes, former American Recordings vice president of A&R, and Danny Wimmer, the founder of Danny Wimmer Presents, the premier production company for rock music festivals in the United States. Other Alchemy artists include STAIND and CHEVELLE.

Prior to the arrival of "Hurt People Hurt People", the reunited metallers hadn't put out any new material since 2009, which means more than a decade and a half had gone by without a single fresh MUDVAYNE song.

MUDVAYNE formed in 1996 and has sold over six million records worldwide, earning gold certification for three albums ("L.D. 50", "The End Of All Things To Come", "Lost And Found"). The band is known for its sonic experimentation, innovative album art, face and body paint, masks and uniforms.