The Jesus and Mary Chain
The coronavirus pandemic is wreaking havoc on live music across the globe, with giant festivals — including Coachella and South By Southwest — postponed or canceled and tours in the U.S. and around the world being canceled or curtailed in an effort to protect large crowds from transmitting the highly contagious respiratory disease COVID-19.
The cancellations began last month as groups including the Pixies called off shows in China and the Far East as the coronavirus outbreak surged. Bands are calling off shows and whole tours in Australia and across Europe, and now shows are beginning to be postponed or canceled entirely in the U.S. as more cities and states impose crowd-size limits in an attempt to slow the virus’ spread.
Among those: New Order canceled a show in Melbourne, Bauhaus is rescheduling its Paris concert, The Jesus and Mary Chain has postponed its Darklands tour of the U.K. and Europe, Wire has canceled its remaining North American concerts, the Pixies are postponing Australian shows, Bob Mould will be rescheduling his solo-electric concerts in the U.S., and Ministry is canceling dates in Australia and Japan.
Details on those, and postponements and cancellations by Simple Minds, The Mission, Howard Jones, Lloyd Cole, They Might Be Giants, Kim Gordon, Mike Watt, Violent Femmes, Clan of Xymox and Colin Hay, are posted below.
At this point, it’s safe to say that if you’re planning to see live music sometime in the next month or so, check your local listings to make sure it’s still actually happening.
For more information on the coronavirus and what you can do to protect yourself and your loved ones, please visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website.
Here are bands’ postponement/cancellation notcies:
And Morrissey didn’t cancel tonight’s London show! How weird is now??
New Order played an outdoor show to 15,000 people in Melbourne, Australia last night (Saturday night here).
Last Friday (two days ago) the Australian federal government publicly announced that all non-essential, organised mass-gatherings of 500 or more people should be cancelled across the country as of Monday. This was presented as a “recommendation” and “advice”, not as a mandatory “ban” (as some local and national media subsequently misreported).
New Order cancelled their Forum Theatre indoor gig for tonight (Sunday night here).
Most of the band members are in the vulnerable age group for this flu so best they postpone.