“As most of you probably know, our brother James has been struggling with addiction on and off for many years. He has now, unfortunately, had to re-enter a treatment program to work on his recovery again.
“We fully intend to make our way to your part of the world as soon as health and schedule permit. We’ll let you know as soon as we can. Once again, we are devastated that we have inconvenienced so many of you, especially our most loyal fans who travel great distances to experience our shows. We appreciate your understanding and support for James and, as always, thank you for being a part of our METALLICA family.
“All tickets purchased to the shows in Australia and New Zealand, including Enhanced Experiences and Black Tickets, will be fully refunded.”
The Australian leg of METALLICA’s “WorldWired” tour was announced in March, with the first show of the trek scheduled for October 17 at Perth’s Optus stadium. It was to be the first of eight stadium dates across Australia and New Zealand, including a night at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium and two dates at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium.
The tour would have been METALLICA’s first to Australia since 2013 and first visit to New Zealand since 2010.
Touring partners, Slipknot also issued a statement about the tour:
“To our Australian and New Zealand fans and family,
We only recently heard the news about the tour being postponed, and we are working as quickly as possible to determine next steps. We will let everyone know as soon as we are able.
Of course, our thoughts are with James and Metallica. We wish them nothing but the best.
We hope to see you all very soon.”
Oran O’Beirne
www.overdrive.ie 2019
