Steve Miller Band cancels entire tour over weather concerns
American rock outfit Steve Miller Band have cancelled their summer tour due to fears of extreme weather in North America.
Miller was due to start his 31-date headline tour across North America on August 15th in Bethel, New York, and after taking the show across the entire country, the run was set to conclude in Anaheim, California, on November 8th.
The veteran rock musician, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016, blamed the cancellation on the increasingly unpredictable weather and revealed it was an instinctive decision not to hit the road.
In an open letter to fans, Miller wrote: “You make music with your instincts. You live life by your instincts. Always trust your instincts…” He then confirmed, “The Steve Miller Band has cancelled all of our upcoming tour dates.”
The statement continued: “The combination of extreme heat, unpredictable flooding, tornadoes, hurricanes and massive forest fires make these risks for you our audience, the band and the crew unacceptable.”
Miller, who is 81, then shared his hopes to tour again in the future, adding: “You can blame it on the weather… The tour is cancelled. Don’t know where, don’t know when… We hope to see you all again. Wishing you all peace, love and happiness.”
The guitarist signed off the message by writing, “Please take care of each other.”
Extreme weather has led to concert cancellations in recent years, but Miller is the first artist to cancel an entire tour due to this issue.
Shockingly, in April, a report claimed that Australia could potentially lose its festival scene due to the ongoing climate crisis. 26 live music events were cancelled in Australia in March due to extreme weather, which the report suggests is a sign of things to come.
The study found 85 per cent of those attending Australian festivals had been affected by either floods, storms, heatwaves or the threat of bushfires at an event during the last 12 months.
Meanwhile, last month, New York’s Governors Ball festival was derailed due to extreme weather, which caused sets to be cancelled and stage times to be altered.
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