“I returned home from tour an absolute hot mess. So broken that my poor husband had to push me through Heathrow and LAX airports in a wheelchair.” Shirley Manson reveals why Garbage had to cancel their 2024 plans

Shirley Manson, July 2024
(Image credit: Chiaki Nozu/WireImage)

Shirley Manson has updated Garbage fans on the reasons why her band felt compelled to cancel all future touring plans for 2024.

Last week, the US-based band - completed by long-time friends and studio boffins Butch Vig, Duke Erikson and Steve Marker - issued a statement apologising to fans for the fact that they were cancelling the remainder of their shows scheduled for this year. The band revealed that this was due to an injury that their vocalist had sustained while touring Europe, which would “require surgery and rehabilitation to correct”.

“We look forward to playing for you all again in 2025”, the band stated.

While sharing the statement, Shirley Manson added a personal note, saying, “No one is more crushed about this than I am. You know I would push through if I could.”


Now Manson has shared another update, giving a little more detail on the nature of her injury, posting a photo of her vocal cords, and reassuring fans that she is okay.

“I came home from tour an absolute hot mess,” she writes. “So broken that my poor husband had to push me through Heathrow and LAX airports in a wheelchair. I also had a dose of laryngitis and a massive cold sore on my lip. Anyway the point of this whole story is: I was freaking out that I had somehow managed to damage my vocal cords on top of everything else but yesterday I was scoped and everything is as it should be.

“These are my vocal cords,” she added. “My doctor said they were beautiful.”

Paul Brannigan
Contributing Editor, Louder

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.