Photo Credit: Melinda Oswandel
While the coronavirus has officially been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization, shows continue to get postponed. Earlier today, Fleshgod Apocalypse were forced to postpone their North American Tour over travel restrictions, and now Testament, Machine Head, Papa Roach, and Russian Circles have announced cancellations. We urge everyone to take the necessary precautions when going to a show. As difficult as this is, do what you can to stay at arm’s length from someone, wash your hands, and try to avoid large crowds. Other measures are simple such as eating healthily, get some rest, and drink lots of water. The coronavirus should not be taken lightly, and taking the necessary steps will not only help you from getting the virus, but it helps prevent someone else as well.
Machine Head postponed the second leg of their European Burn My Eyes tour as the group explained:
MACHINE HEAD TO POSTPONE EUROPEAN TOUR
It is with heavy heart that we must announce the postponement of our upcoming EU/UK tour in support of the 25th anniversary of Burn My Eyes.
As residents of the Bay Area, we’ve been hit hard and have witnessed firsthand what has been going on. Public gatherings of more than 1000 have been banned in San Jose, and events in downtown San Francisco including major concerts and conferences have been shut down.
We have been watching the situation overseas on a daily basis, in contact with all promoters, and local governments for the status of our concerts there. As of a week ago, we had 6 concert cancelled until the 2nd week of April, due the banning of public gathering over 1,000 people (or in some cases 100 people). Even at that point, we still held out hope that things would be contained, and that the public gathering ordinances would be lifted by the time our tour started.
As of today, we now have 14 shows cancelled until the 2nd week of April, with 7 cancelled indefinitely. And it appears as of an hour ago, another 3 have been cancelled.
15 minutes ago the World Health Organization just declared the Coronavirus a pandemic.
Of paramount importance to us is the heath and safety of the Head Cases. We’ve worked hard with all our management, booking agents, and business associates to find other solutions or options, but the levels of risk to our audience and their communities is simply too high for our comfort level. In addition to that, we also have a unique group of extraordinarily passionate fans who travel from all over the continent to watch our shows. We are eternally humbled by the dedication and devotion of the Head Cases, however in this case, travel is something not recommended.
So it is with deep frustration and regret that we are forced to make this announcements. The Burn My Eyes 25th anniversary tour is to be postponed and shows rescheduled for a later date, hopefully in the Fall, but possibly later.
We look forward to our next concerts with you all, and the ability to publicly gather together and play raging heavy metal for you and vent all of our collective frustration, as a result of this insane moment in history, out in the circle pit.
Stay safe, stay calm, and be well friends.
– Robb and Machine Head
Testament, Exodus and Death Angel had to cancel their show in Hannover:
“We greatly apologize, but we’ve also had to cancel tomorrow’s Sold-Out show in Hannover due to worldwide health concerns. We hope to make it up to you soon!”
Papa Roach were forced to cancel five shows on their European tour:
“Unfortunately, due to the CORONAVIRUS / COVID-19 and the latest government restrictions of public gatherings, our concerts in Paris, Tilburg, Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Copenhagen have been cancelled by the local government authorities. This tour was so epic, we tried to perform all of our shows so we are all gutted!!!
We are working with our team to reschedule these cities, but at the moment, nothing can be confirmed as the information is changing daily. Please be patient as we naviagate through these necessary precautions. Hold on to your ticket and we will add a few more cities.
Finally, thank you to all of you who came out to see us. Wash your hands and be safe!
PAPA ROACH / HOLLYWOOD UNDEAD / ICE NINE KILLS”
Russian Circles were forced to cancel their entire European tour:
“EU TOUR IMPORTANT UPDATE:
We’re really sorry to inform you that due to the COVID19 situation in Europe, Russian Circles European tour 2020 with Torche has been postponed. Roadburn Festival is still confirmed. You can read a message from Brian, Mike and Dave below.
“It’s with heavy hearts that we’re announcing the postponement of our European tour with Torche due to the increasing government pressure to limit public events in the wake of the coronavirus. We’ve been watching the day-by-day developments closely and all the patterns seem to indicate that the measures imposed by countries like Italy will likely be the model for most of Western Europe in the next few weeks, effectively cancelling the majority of our shows. We have already had several concerts cancelled on us and we’ve been asked to postpone our performances by several additional promoters. Ultimately, we anticipate that the situation will get worse before it gets any better. Beyond government restrictions, we also have to consider the health of our audiences and the people working our shows. We’ve played shows with broken fingers. We’ve played shows with vomit buckets hidden behind our amps because members of the band we’re dealing with stomach flus. We’ve played shows days after members have come out of surgery. We’ve played through any number of physical, emotional, or financial hardships, but unfortunately we have to make an exception this time around. It pains us to postpone the tour, but for the sake of our audience, our colleagues in the clubs, and ourselves, we feel it’s best to reschedule the tour for later in 2020. That said, we are keeping our fingers crossed that the situation improves in time for Roadburn Festival in mid-April as we are still planning on performing as scheduled. We apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused anyone but we will be back soon. Stay safe and take care of each other.”
