New Found Glory to Honor Late Guitarist Chad Gilbert During Shows at His Happiest Place on Earth

New Found Glory will pay tribute to late guitarist Chad Gilbert with a series of shows at his favorite place on Earth.

In an Instagram post on Wednesday (Sept.

23), the group announced that following Gilbert’s death at 45 on Sunday (Sept.

20) after a long battle with cancer they will honor him by returning to the stage at EPCOT at the Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla. during the upcoming Eat to the Beat Concert series.

“First off, we want to thank everyone for the overwhelming amount of love and tribute posts for Chad these past few days,” they wrote in the post .

“Seeing how deeply he touched so many lives means everything to us, and we know he would be so proud to see it.” As they process the loss of their longtime friend and bandmate, the group said they were canceling their planned appearance at the Aftershock Festival (Oct.1-4) in Sacramento in order to pay proper tribute to Disney superfan Gilbert at his happiest place on Earth.

“We rarely cancel shows but this felt needed,” they wrote.

“Anyone who knew Chad knew that he was a massive Disney fan.

Our shows at Epcot were dates he was so excited for and he was actively planning to be on stage with us there.

He had already worked on the setlists with us and was practicing as much as possible to be ready.

Because of how much he wanted to play these shows, taking the stage at Epcot feels like the right way to honor him, and what he would want us to do.” Before Gilbert’s death, their plan was to announce the setlist for the Epcot shows ahead of time, which is why they posted it in their Insta announcement.

“Every note we play and every word you sing at Epcot is for Chad,” they said.

“Thank you all for wrapping us in so much love, understanding, and support as we come together to honor his legacy.” NFG will play six different sets during their two-day run at EPCOT on Monday (Sept.

28) and Tuesday (Sept.