I didn’t even know they were supposed to perform again, but Simon and Garfunkel have canceled their summer tour. They had already postponed five Canadian shows last April after doctors had ordered Garfunkel, who suffers from vocal paresis a condition affecting the vocal cords, to rest his voice. The shows were rescheduled in July as he was expected to have made a full recovery by then. The tour is now on hold but Paul Simon made an optimistic statement saying Arthur Garfunkel was expected to recover completely at some point.
As Helen Bach mentioned here awhile ago, it has been one tour cancellation after another. It seems that tons of bands have been forced to stop or cancel their summer tour for different reasons.
The biggest of all was of course U2 due to Bono’s back surgery, which made their opening act, Interpol, to inevitably follow since Interpol was not able to drain the same huge stadium crowd than U2. It was reported that the loss would reach $148 million!
Last February, Elton John and Billy Joel had announced the cancellation of their joint tour giving for reasons that Joel wanted to take a year off, an advise given by his doctor after complaining of an extreme physical fatigue.
When they thought it would be a farewell tour, the 80’s sensation the Go-Go’s had also to cancel their summer tour because their guitarist Jane Wiedlin injured herself after a 20-foot fall in the Californian mountains.
The heavy metal band Mastodon was also forced to cancel their summer European tour because their guitarist Bill Kelliher has pancreatitis.
Heaven and Hell, a band featuring some Black Sabbath members, has also announced sad news about their vocalist who is not doing well after having being diagnosed with stomach cancer last year. They had to cancel all dates in Europe this summer.
Last April, North American tour for King Sunny Ade and his African Beats was cancelled because of a tragic accident, which killed two members of the African Beats.
In May, Fred Durst from the rap-rock band Limp Bizkit sent a series of tweets claiming they wanted to move their US dates from amphitheatres to arenas ‘for a better limp experience’. As a result the tour was cancelled but online rumors have blamed poor ticket sales to be the real reason.
And as if all this was not enough, Christina Aguilera’s US tour was canceled too, the true reason being once again evasive, ranging from Aguilera’s heavy work schedule, her need to have more time to prepare, or her preparation for her acting debut in ‘Burlesque’. Once again rumors talk about poor ticket sales!
Moreover, Chris Brown cancelled his European tour because of a visa problem denied by the UK! I mean, this is the official reason, but some rumors, one more time, say he was not selling enough tickets.
At last, very recently, singer Maxwell canceled the rest of his tour dates because of ‘scheduling conflicts’ but the internet buzz is reporting a feud with his opening act Jill Scott and Erykah Badu.
I don’t know, there may even be more cancellations, but you have to wonder, what kind of endemic disease is this? Illnesses or injuries are sure understandable reasons to cancel a tour, but poor ticket sales? These artists should book smaller venues and get over their big ego!