Update: (as of March 16, 2020) Elton John postponed his North American tour, but told fans to hang onto their tickets because he’ll come back to play these shows in the future.
Update: (as of March 12, 2020) Live Nation has officially postponed tours throughout the rest of the month in an attempt to stop the spread of coronavirus.
Update: (as of March 12, 2020) Michael Buble’s March and April tour dates have been postponed, with new dates in the same markets to be announced shortly. Tickets will be honored at the new shows.
Update: (as of March 12, 2020) Cher has cancelled her scheduled Here We Go Again tour date at Chesapeake Energy Arena. The singer called off the March 12 gig in Oklahoma City after reports surfaced that a Utah Jazz player tested positive for the coronavirus while visiting the Oklahoma City Thunder, leading to a complete suspension of the NBA season.
Update: (as of March 11, 2020) Adam Sandler has postponed tour dates throughout March amid health concerns, noting that shows will be postponed “once things are back to normal.”
Update: (as of March 11, 2020) The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo had to close its 2020 edition of Houston Rodeo early, meaning that Dierks Bentley, Gwen Stefani, Khalid, Lizzo, Chris Stapleton, and Luke Bryan will not perform as planned. Organizers noted that the Houston Health Department ordered the cancellation, so they will “respectfully and dutifully comply with the City’s order.”
Update: (as of March 11, 2020) Zac Brown Band postponed their Spring Owl Tour, which was supposed to run through this spring. The band sited that this was “an extremely difficult decision, but the well-being of our fans is always our top priority.” Their Roar With The Lions Tour will proceed as scheduled.
Update: (as of March 10, 2020) Coachella and Stagecoach festivals have officially been postponed to October. Festival organizers revealed an official statement today, noting that Coachella will now take place over two weekends in the fall: October 9, 10, and 11 and October 16, 17, and 18, followed by Stagecoach 23, 24, and 25. All purchases will be honored at the new dates.
Update: (as of March 10, 2020) Pearl Jam postponed the entirety of their upcoming Gigaton North American tour, writing that “communing in large groups is a huge part of what we do as a band and the tour we’ve been busy planning for months is now in jeopardy.” Postponed shows will be announced at a later date.
Update: (as of March 9, 2020) Madonna cancelled the last two shows of her Madame X World Tour in Paris, citing that Office of the Police this morning prohibiting all events with an audience attendance of over 1,000.
Update: (as of March 4, 2020) Mariah Carey postponed her concert in Honolulu, Hawaii set for March 11 at the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena, citing travel concerns due to the outbreak. The show will now take place at the same venue on November 28 and is a part of her holiday extravaganza.
Update: (as of March 9, 2020) Austin’s South by Southwest Festival (SXSW) and Miami’s Ultra Music Festival have been cancelled as the cities deal with public health emergencies. Days before being called off, both gatherings had maintained they were taking appropriate measures to ensure the events would go on.
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Coronavirus (COVID-19) is quickly spreading across the world with a death toll of 3,100 and nearly 90,000 confirmed cases, the Washington Post reports. Amid the increasing outbreaks, a handful of artists have begun to cancel tour dates.
Over the weekend, the “Sk8er Boi” pop-punk star Avril Lavigne had to cancel her 12-date tour across Asia to support her latest record, Head Above Water. The trek was originally supposed to kick-off on April 23, but said that “we are unable to tour the Asian markets due to the continuous outbreak of the coronavirus.”
“My band, crew and I have been working so hard to bring this tour worldwide and are completely bummed out,” she said in a statement on Twitter. “Please everybody take care of yourselves and stay healthy. You’re in my thoughts and prayers and we are hoping to announce rescheduled shows soon.”
Yesterday, the rockers of The National took to social media to cancel their upcoming tour in Japan, followed by the Canadian rock group Wolf Parade’s cancellation of their European and U.K. tour with the latter noting that it would be “globally irresponsible and potentially risky for the band to carry out the tour at this time.” The alt-rock group Set It Off also cancelled dates in Asia due to “unforeseen circumstances and for everybody’s safety,” as well as their opening sets with Jimmy Eat World in Manilla and Singapore.
These are just the latest cancellations; as previously reported, the rock icons of Green Day had to postpone the Asian leg of their Hella Mega Tour with Fall Out Boy and Weezer last week, with new dates being announced soon. Rapper Stormzy has also called-off his Asia tour. Other bands who have cancelled shows include gothic metal group Lacuna Coil, Canto-pop singer Andy Lau, R&B artist Khalid, English singer Mabel, the rockers of New Order and X Ambassadors, and metal band Testament.
K-pop has also been heavily affected by the outbreak, causing groups Seventeen and BTS to cancel shows as the virus continues to rapidly spread across South Korea and surrounding countries. BTS’ fans, known as the ARMY, received refunds for their tickets and many opted to donate those funds toward coronavirus recovery relief efforts, raising more than 400 million SKW. Nonetheless, girl group TWICE has opted to continue their concerts as planned.
The Los Angeles-based K-pop festival, The Korea Times Music Festival, has also been postponed for the time being, as well as a handful of concerts from artists GOT7, NCT Dream, GFriend, WINNER, Taeyeon, and Suchmos. More than 20,000 music events between January and March have been cancelled or postponed in China and Hong Kong, costing 2 billion yuan ($286 million USD) in ticketing and box office losses, the China Association of Performing Arts said in a statement to Billboard.
Amid the cancellations, Live Nation Entertainment President and CEO Michael Rapino downplayed coronavirus’ impact on the company, noting in an earnings call last week that while the virus might impact shows in countries and regions where the outbreak is prevalent, the company will not lose money as “we don’t pay an artist until they play.” He also pointed out that concert season doesn’t really ramp-up until after June, saying that “the heart of the business happens in the summer.” By that time, he said coronavirus containment is optimistically anticipated.
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We’ll update this story as more cancellations are announced. Check back for new information.
