Iron Maiden has had to postpone their upcoming tour of Australia and New Zealand due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tour was supposed to kick off May 1 in Perth and wrap up May 11 in Melbourne with Killswitch Engage as support.
In a post on the band’s Facebook page, manager Rod Smallwood said,
“We are hugely disappointed not to be seeing our fans in Australia and New Zealand in May due to the understandable Government concert bans surrounding Coronavirus. Sadly these are difficult and uncertain times for us all.”
The band hopes to return to the countries soon, with tour promoter TEG Dainty urging fans to hold on to their tickets for further instruction. If fans can not make the rescheduled shows when announced, tickets will then be refunded at the point of purchase.
“We still intend to bring this great Legacy Of The Beast show to you all as soon we can,” writes Smallwood. “I promise we will do everything we can to achieve this with our promoters and subject to what is happening around us globally.”
Smallwood then addresses the rest of their fans in the statement as well, saying:
“We also appreciate that fans with tickets to shows in some of the other countries on our extensive 2020 tour will be anxious for news and updates. You can be sure we will keep you immediately updated here with any other changes, by country, that could become necessary as soon as we hear of them from the official Govt channels. Thank you for your patience and for bearing with us. We hope to see you all!”
Iron Maiden is just the latest artist to have to postpone dates because of the COVID-19 outbreak. Over the last few weeks, shows and gatherings have been cancelled and postponed left and right, including South By Southwest, Coachella, Record Store Day and more, as countries are recommending people practice “social distancing” to level off the rate of infection.
“Take care of yourselves,” concludes Smallwood’s statement, “be safe and be smart.”
