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Jeff Lynne at Hyde Park is cancelled. What is the gig you hoped for that got cancelled?

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I was going to see him in Hyde Park tomorrow.

Cancelled. I wish him well with his issues.

First time I would have Steve Windwood as well.

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  2. We had tickets for a rare Maria McKee gig in London but then 2020 happened and, unlike other shows we had lined up, this one wasn’t rearranged.

    We went to what we hoped would be Norma Waterson’s valedictory performance at Union Chapel. In the event she had been well enough to travel but too exhausted by the journey to take to the stage. Eliza had given fair warning that it wasn’t guaranteed that Norma would be strong enough to perform and other singers, favourites of Norma’s, sang instead.

    I hope to see Richard Thompson at Folk in the Park next month pending his recovery from broken ribs and vertabrae, but obviously the health of a 76 year old man after such an injury must come first (and I’ve seen him dozens of times before).

    • One of my list of cancellations was Maria McKee too. I reorganised my route up and down the coast in California in 1993 to get to a gig in Ventura. I checked into a motel and went to buy a ticket only to find it had been cancelled. Luckily I already had a ticket to see her in London a few weeks later.

  4. Mott The Hoople, Newcastle City Hall 1974. Whole tour was cancelled due to Ian Hunter illness as I recall and then he left the band. Saw the reunion in 2009 which was great but not the same.

  7. Lyle Lovett twice. The Albert Hall and the Olympia, Dublin – Gulf War first time, God Knows What second time. I haven’t bothered trying since.

    The one that really stung was Edwyn Collins on a tour when Roddy Frame was playing in his band. I think it was before his brain haemorrhage. I never missed an Edwyn Collins gig in all my years in London. He was always really enjoyable and entertaining. The idea of added Roddy Frame was the icing on the cake. I was gutted to hear that it was cancelled and to add insult to injury, I heard it was because of poor ticket sales. Really!?

    • I missed Lyle Lovett twice too. Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh the first time. I think it was with his large band too. 9/11 was the reason for cancelling. Covid the second time. Small band, again in Edinburgh. I eventually got to see him with his small band at Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh.
      Michael Marra. Stirling Folk Club. He was ill with cancer then, poor fella. Unfortunately, I never got to see him.

  8. I had a ticket for a Motorhead gig, which I was greatly looking forward to as I’d never had the chance to see them. Then Lemmy passed away. I emailed Newcastle City Hall, who informed me that the gig would be going ahead (it obviously didn’t).

  10. I had tickets to see Jeff Beck at the Hammersmith Odeon in 1990. It was cancelled as he had hurt his back working on a car. He rescheduled for 6 months later and blew the roof off.

  11. Nina Simone, Royal Festival Hall, early 90s. Can’t remember if we were in the foyer or actually in the hall when the tannoy simply announced ‘Ladies and gentlemen, Miss Simone has not left Paris.’

  12. Neil Young with the Horse has done me twice in Ottawa, 2013 and last year, have seen him elsewhere but he has never made up those dates. I finally decided to give Morrissey a go in September but am expecting a cancellation.

    Saw Jeff and ELO last year in Toronto. Stunning show, but Jeff did appear to be a bit lost at times, and that was nearly a year ago.

  13. I had a ticket to see Carla Bley, with Andy Sheppard and Steve Swallow, at Union Chapel some years back.
    It was cancelled at fairly short notice, I think because Carla was unwell and my ticket was refunded.
    The gig was rescheduled for either The South Bank or The Barbican, I forget which, a few months later, so I got a ticket for that. It was cancelled due to Steve Swallow falling ill so once again I got a refund.
    The following year they were booked to play at an all-day music festival somewhere way down south of London that I’d have had trouble getting to and from. Only very expensive day tickets for the whole festival were available, so I decided not to book.
    I don’t think she ever played in the UK again after.

  14. Pixies, 1991, Glasgow SECC.

    Support was Teenage Fanclub – they were excellent, hometown crowd and all that.
    Pixies came on and started, crowd went ape and surged forward – safety barrier collapsed.
    I think they managed two or three songs before the crowd apparently moved the stage – health and safety shut the gig down at that point.
    Cue a very disappointed Glasgow crowd…

    Oh, and I missed REM in 1995, was supposed to be seeing them in Glasgow – cancelled due to Bill!

  15. I feel quite sad about this but OMD were coming to Auckland and I was all teed up to meet them and do an interview and post it on here. This was to be in March 2020 and you know what happened next – so no concert.

    They played earlier this year and it was a great show. I very much enjoyed it. However, I am now 5 years older and I’d basically gone off the idea so I didn’t bother re-starting the thing. The prospect of meeting them was not as exciting as it was when I was a 53 year old whippersnapper.

    • Talking about the covid period: I had tickets for VdGG in November 2020 – postponed and rescheduled.
      Rescheduled gig (April 2021) was then also postponed and rescheduled.
      On the date of the second rescheduled gig (February 2022) I had covid and couldn’t attend.
      Irony? How we laughed!!

      (And just to finish off: May 2022, during the European leg of the tour, Hammill needed surgery and was hospitalised – tour cancelled)

  16. Jeff Buckley.

    To add insult to (my) injury, I’d missed him at Cambridge Junction the night before Glastonbury, because I’d opted to drive down to Pilton the day before. I then missed his set because of a mix-up – I thought I’d missed it, but I’d actually just missed his guest appearance with EBTG, and he was on later, and I was at a different stage.

    Then he drowned (and didn’t play again).

    • Slightly off track – Jeff Buckley was playing at The Garage, Highbury Corner, London. Back in the day when you could just turn up and pay on the door.
      It was a Sunday night and I had to be up early for work next morning, so I decided it could wait until the next time..

  17. One I wish *had* been cancelled: Happy Mondays at the Brixton Academy around the time of Yes Please.

    They’d come back from Barbados, Shaun was totally out of it and looked like he was sweating crack cocaine, Bez had a broken shoulder & arm in a huge plaster cast, the rest of the band were fed up – they’d obviously had enough – and it was utter shit.

    Mind you, the support was Stereo MC’s and they were ace, as they were when I’d seen them the year before supporting EMF. Shortly afterwards, Step It Up went into the chart.

  18. It looks like Jeff was very unwell in his Manchester gig towards the end of the set, and the second night there was cancelled at the last minute. On top of that he seems to have a hand injury. A systemic infection is not trivial- one of those can kill you. I’m wishing him well and I hope he doesn’t feel pressured to reschedule.

  19. Neil Young with I think Booker T and the MGs at Brixton Academy in 2002. He had the flu. The then current album was a bit shit but I was an uber fan at the time so was very disappointed. I’ve still never seen him as several subsequent albums turned out to be a bit shit too so I lost interest tbh.

    • Steely Dan first Uk tour – 1974?
      Was walking to Birmingham Hippodrome and noticed people walking in opposite direction
      Donald Fagen had laryngitis apparently.
      Took about 26 years to finally see them and then saw them again post Becker with Stevie Winwood supporting.

    • I was there the night before and first 40 minutes were absolutely stunning, as good as it gets, but seemed to go downhill a bit after that, possibly he was beginning to come down with the flu already

    • I also had tickets for this, travelled from Plymouth to Brixton to see a gig cancelled sign at the tube station. I’ve seen him with the Horse in arenas, but with Booker T in Brixton Academy would have been special

  20. Carl Perkins in Exeter – must have been around 1993 I guess, and I was very excited as I am a big fan. We went to the gig and were seated when we learned he wasn’t there and had been replaced by an Elvis impersonator. Now, it could have been worse as the band included Scotty Moore and D. J. Fontana and the backing singers were the Jordanaires, but it was obviously hugely disappointing and I don’t think he played here much after that, certainly not touring. I complained bitterly that we hadn’t been told beforehand and they tried to say that there had been an announcement, but I eventually got my money back.

    The other cancellation (probably more accurately a postponement) was Warren Zevon at Warwick University in 2000. I turned up, but he had been stricken with flu and couldn’t appear. A few of us hung around as we had spotted his people carrier parked up. Eventually Warren came out and I got a couple of CDs signed and exchanged a few words with one of my all time heroes. The gig was rescheduled in a different theatre on the campus and I was lucky enough to bag a front row seat – so it actually worked out well!

    • Lucky man. Only ever got to see him once – at the Town and Country Club on the Learning to Flinch tour in – IIRC – Sept 1992 – Sugar were on the next night and I foolishly didn’t go to that as well

  22. Deiving back to San francisco through the Yosemie National Park looking forward to Fela kuti that night.
    Turn on the radio to hear that Fela had been arrested at Lagos Airport on” money laundering” charges. Damn. At least I had seen him at Brixton.
    Not cancelled but thwarted. Trekked across Africa to see Zaire / Congo rumba str Franco at his Une Deux Trois club in Kinshasa.
    Quelle domage. France was in Brussels.
    Randy Newman. Sick. Never been back.
    Ali Farka Toure decided he didn’t want fly so far.

  25. Jerry Lee Lewis – TWICE! First at the Apollo, Glasgow – “unwell” – and later at the Playhouse in Edinburgh – things had got out of hand while the touring party were in Amsterdam and the whole tour foundered.

    But I did get to see him, twice, at the SECC in Glasgow, including on his farewell tour.

    • Is there not a story about some guy meeting a miserable chap in a bar who had a tattoo of Jerry Lee Lewis and that days date on his arm- in explanation of his mood he just pointed over to the cancelled sign across the road.

      • That was in Tom Shield’s Diary, in the Glasgow Herald.

        (paywalled behind here – https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/11939464.kings-blockbuster/)

        APROPOS of not a lot (and in reality because we have not mentioned
        Kilwinning for a wee while) here is a tale about a resident of
        Ayrshire’s Burgh of Culture who came to Glasgow in search of
        entertainment.

        The story comes from W. B. Thomson of Kirkintilloch, who recalls that
        the occasion was one of the last shows at the Glasgow Apollo, and Jerry
        Lee Lewis was scheduled to headline the concert but had been unable to
        appear.

        The box office was busy issuing refunds, so Mr Thomson retired to a
        nearby pub where he found sundry disconsolate Teddy boys. Most
        disconsolate of all was a figure in a yellow drape suit, seated
        forlornly at the end of the bar.

        W. B. relates: ”I eventually spoke to him and it turned out that he
        had come straight from his work in Kilwinning, oblivious of the
        cancellation. I suggested, as a consolation, that he may yet see his
        hero at another venue, but he indicated that this wasn’t a solution.
        ”’This is my effan problem . . . Look!” the Kilwinningite said,
        rolling up the left sleeve of his jacket to reveal the legend, freshly
        tattooed on his arm — Friday, February 17, 1987. Jerry Lee Lewis . . .
        His last show at Glasgow Apollo . . . The King Lives.”

        Mr Thomson suggested the addition of a tasteful ”Cancelled,” but the
        Kilwinningite was not impressed.

    • I came over from Belgium to see that gig. In those pre-internet, pre-mobile times my friend and I travelled up to Wembley Stadium none the wiser, only to find it deserted. No signs, nothing. It took an Evening Standard vendor’s sign – ‘Stones concert off’ or somesuch – for the penny to drop. Keith had an infected finger after cutting it changing a string, apparently. Chinny reck-on…

  27. To combine two threads Be Bop Deluxe at Leeds University supported by Doctors of Madness. DoM played but no BBD rumours were that they were playing TOTP instead of the gig. I suppose it was thought TOTP was live. It turns out they’d recorded for TOTP and then flown up to Leeds but got stuck in fog so never made the Uni.

    Checking up it appears I saw them at Leeds Queens Hall but I have no recollection I may have been in the pub.

    Lyle Lovett for me too.

  28. I bought tickets from StubHub for Leonard Cohen’s final tour, they cost me a small fortune (I have bought cheaper cars) two days before the show I received an email from Stub Hub informing me that “Due to unforeseen circumstances” my tickets were not available and a refund would be made within the next 14 days. I was f*cking furious but it was impossible to get hold of anybody from StubHub to vent my frustrations and a formal complaint via email was just ignored. Guess how many tickets I’ve bought via StubHub since.

  30. I went to see Gregory Isaacs at the Lyceum (I think) and got there to discover dozens of pissed off people milling around and a strip of paper saying CANCELLED pasted across the poster. No explanation or anything. This was pre-internet.

    My sister went to see Bruce in Marseilles and drove from Nice, a not insignificant journey. Found the venue, went for a meal and got back at show time to find it was cancelled.

  31. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss three years ago; the tour went ahead except for one gig cancelled on the day because of Krauss’ vocal problems. Also: Nirvana in 1994 because of interior decorating.

  33. I have just remembered Steve Marriott’s All Stars at Birmingham University, probably in 1976.
    They cancelled because, I was told, they said the stage was “too small”.
    My friends on the Ents Committee were extremely pissed off because the band had been provided with a stage plan in advance and knew how big it was.
    In retrospect a strange decision because I can recall a couple of large bands that played on that stage – Jess Roden Band and Cado Belle to name two.
    I also saw Steve Marriott at The George Robey in Finsbury Park in the 80s. Only a three piece, but on an absolutely tiny stage, most of which was taken up by the drum kit. He was fabulous nonetheless.

  34. The Cranberries – they were due to support Crowded House at the NEC in 94/95 (after Paul Hester left, anyway) – cancelled after Dolores broke her arm skiing. We were in the queue at the venue for duplicate tickets after Mrs Malc had accidentally put the original tickets in the bin, and there were lots of people asking for refunds.

    I think I’ve complained on here before about Mansun cancelling at Oxford Brookes on the Six tour. The only other one that springs to mind was SLF cancelling at the Wedgwood Rooms in Portsmouth because Bruce Foxton wasn’t well. Word had it he’d been mugged.

  36. I’ve never seen Shelby Lynne despite some good efforts. I had tickets to see her at The Sage in Gateshead a good while ago and she cancelled with plenty of notice. Thinking about it, I think it was not long after 9/11 and it’s possible she didn’t feel good about flying. I remember the advertised support was someone I liked as well. but I can’t remember who that was Anyway, the whole gig went west. Some years later I booked to see her at Manchester Bridgewater Hall, touring her Dusty Springfield covers album. I think that whole tour got pulled.

    My mate is a big fan of Briandi Carlile and in maybe about 2010 was waiting outside The Forum in Kentish Town with ticket in hand when the gig was called off due to a power supply failure.

    • I had forgotten about Shelby. I had tickets to see her at a venue on Tottenham Court Road, London.
      I think the venue may have been called The Embassy (which might also have been a drinking hole that featured in The Sweeney). It was definitely at a venue I had never been to. And have never been to. I don’t know how long it stayed open, but I never saw anything advertised for the place again.

      Which reminds me that around the same time I had tickets to see US country singer Kelly Willis. She cancelled the tour because of her pregnancy.

      • I think it was called the Embassy Rooms. I saw Jason Falkner do a great gig, the only time I’ve seen him with a band. Shortly after that it closed and reopened as a Spearmint Rhino, ahem, “gentlemen’s club “.

  37. Randy Newman several years ago in Sydney. He was due to perform with the Sydney Syphony Orchestra, would have been wonderful to hear his orchestrations live.

  38. NY and Crazy Horse, Glastonbury 97 – Cancelled as Neil had apparently cut his finger making a ham sandwich.

    I had seen them at the Phoenix festival the year before though, then again at Glastonbury in 2009.

    Kula Shaka subbed. They were OK, but hardly The Horses.

  39. I’ve had just a few cancelled gigs over the years, particularly with Covid: Lenny Kravitz; Steeleye Span; Fish; Paul Simon (he played a couple of days later); Camel. Anything to do with wildlife seems to be a bit more risky…

  40. Be Bop Deluxe at Leicester De Montfort Hall in ’78, the show wasn’t actually cancelled but my dad found I had bought a ticket said I was too young to go (I was 14 and already been to half a dozen gigs including Queen, so boo) but daddy was a alcoholic and tore my ticket up in front of me and that was the end of that. I didn’t take that very well at the time if I recall.

  41. The fab No-Hits (waves cheerily to @deramdaze) at the Liberty Cinema, Balham in February 1980.

    The official excuse given for the cancellation was that Paul Simonon had sprained his wrist (make of that what you will..) , whilst the rumour mill was convinced it had been cancelled due to Topper Headon’s drug problems. The actual reason, which wasn’t revealed for years, was that the venue had failed a safety inspection when the stage had partially collapsed whilst the inspection was ongoing. It then closed for good less than a month after the scheduled gig.

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