American post-harcore outfit At The Drive-In have cancelled the final four dates of their US tour, following a series of cancelled shows in Washington D.C. and most recently, a show in New York.
Just two hours before they were set to take the stage in New York City, drummer Tony Hajar and guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez came out on stage at New York’s Terminal 5 to announce to a capacity crowd that the band would not be able to perform due to frontman Cedric Bixler-Zavala losing his voice.
The band had set up their gear, before Hajar began to address the crowd, saying “We feel absolutely horrible but we have a goal, our goal is to continue being a band for a very long time. We will be back, and this is really, really hard to do right now. We feel horrible. Obviously we set up, we’re here. We sound-checked, and we couldn’t get to it and it’s not plausible for us to do a show. And this is New York, this means the world to us. Terminal 5 means the world to us.”
Following that, Rodriguez-Zavala explained further: “Thanks for being patient… He can’t sing, that’s the reality, we’re bummed out, you’re bummed out, you showed up, we showed up, this is what we’re dealing with. “We’re really sorry guys. We really love you, thank you so much for coming down.”
Shortly afterwards, the band took to Facebook to explain in further detail why they couldn’t play, outlining that it would have made Cedric’s injury worse if they’d gone on.
Apologies to our fans in NYC that were coming tonight. Cedric has a health concern with his vocal chords and can't perform this evening.
— AT THE DRIVE IN (@AtTheDriveIn) June 18, 2016
It is not possible to play without furthering his injury. Thank you for your support!
— AT THE DRIVE IN (@AtTheDriveIn) June 18, 2016
It's our goal to be a band for a very long time and we don't want to impede that at all. We will be back! Refunds from point of purchase.
— AT THE DRIVE IN (@AtTheDriveIn) June 18, 2016
Those posts were followed by a full cancellation of their final four shows on At The Drive-In’s North America tour – with a suggestion that they’ll attempt to tour again later this year. Hopefully Cedric will be back to full health for the band’s Splendour In The Grass 2016 appearance and sideshows.
