The Charlatans have cancelled their remaining 2021 UK shows due to members of their crew testing positive for COVID.
Tim Burgess and co. hit the road last month for their ‘A Head Full Of Ideas 31st Anniversary Best Of Tour’, which had been pushed back from last year due to the pandemic. The band’s most recent gig took place in Exeter on Tuesday night (December 14).
Further celebratory performances were scheduled for Nottingham (December 16), Leeds (17), Glasgow (18), Aberdeen (20) and Edinburgh (21).
Taking to social media this afternoon, however, The Charlatans confirmed they had been left with “absolutely no choice” but to postpone the rest of the tour with “immediate effect”.
“Two more of our crew members have tested positive and it doesn’t feel right to gather people together with current numbers of infections around the UK,” the statement reads. “We know our fans will understand as safety is our number one priority.”
Please pass this on to anybody you might know who was coming to see us at @Rock_City_Notts – so people don’t travel unnecessarily. We will re-arrange the dates as soon as we can. Tim x
— Tim Burgess (@Tim_Burgess) December 16, 2021
It concludes: “Keep well. Hope to see you soon. Tim, Martin, Mark, Tony & Pete.”
In a follow-up tweet, frontman Burgess wrote: “Please pass this on to anybody you might know who was coming to see us at @Rock_City_Notts – so people don’t travel unnecessarily. We will re-arrange the dates as soon as we can. Tim x.”
The Charlatans follow the likes of Sam Fender, Paul Weller and Coldplay in scrapping recent shows due to coronavirus infections.
It comes as the UK attempts to contain the rising Omicron variant of the disease, which led the government to trigger its ‘Plan B’ approach in England. Yesterday (December 15) saw a record-breaking 78,610 daily cases being reported in the UK (via GOV.UK).
Grassroots venues have called on the government to take “decisive and immediate action” to prevent closures, with current COVID concerns causing a decline in audience numbers at gigs.
The Music Venue Trust found that 61 per cent of grassroots venues were forced to cancel at least one event over the course of one week because of touring party members testing positive for the virus.
Overall, it is reported that up to 40 per cent of fans are not showing up to scheduled UK concerts.
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