The Who cancel UK and Ireland tour

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By ( Classic Rock ) published

To no-one’s surprise, The Who will no longer be touring the UK and Ireland in March

The Whoooooooooo
(Image credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)

The Who have cancelled next month’s  planned 10-date tour of the UK and Ireland.

Postponed from March 2020, the rescheduled tour was set to launch at Dublin’s 3 Arena on March 5, but on-going restrictions designed to combat the transmission of the Covid-19 virus have put paid to the plan.

In. a joint statement, guitarist Pete Townshend and frontman Roger Daltrey expressed their dismay at having to pull the dates for a second time.

“We are very sorry that we have to cancel our planned March 2021 UK and Ireland shows. Please excuse the delay but we wanted to wait as long as possible to see if we could indeed play them. However, as you can see the current situation makes this impossible. Thanks for all your wonderful support and we hope to see you in the future when conditions allow.”

Last month Daltrey and Townshend added their names to a letter accusing Boris Johnson’s government of “shamefully” failing British musicians in striking a Brexit deal which could make European tours “unenviable.”

In a letter published in The Times, also signed by Roger Waters. Brian May, Robert Plant and The Darkness, the musicians wrote: “British musicians, dancers, actors and their support staff have been shamefully failed by their government. The deal done with the EU has a gaping hole where the promised free movement for musicians should be: everyone on a European music tour will now need costly work permits and a mountain of paperwork for their equipment.

“The extra costs will make many tours unviable, especially for young emerging musicians who are already struggling to keep their heads above water owing to the COVID ban on live music. This negotiating failure will tip many performers over the edge,” the letter continues.

“We urge the government to do what it said it would do and negotiate paperwork-free travel in Europe for British artists and their equipment. For the sake of British fans wanting to see European performers in the U.K. and British venues wishing to host them, the deal should be reciprocal.”

Classic Rock
Classic Rock

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