Neil Young has cancelled plans for a tour of Australia and New Zealand next year and Bluesfest is not confirming whether he will still be headlining the Byron Bay festival in April.
The musician is scheduled to play a three-hour set on the Friday night of the five-day festival with his latest backing group Promise of the Real.
In October Frontier Touring announced on Facebook that Young and his backing band would also perform shows in indoor arenas and special outdoor shows in Australia and New Zealand while he was here.
But the company announced on Tuesday that these shows would no longer be going ahead. It did not give a reason for the cancellation.
“Frontier Touring regret to advise that Neil Young will unfortunately no longer be undertaking a 2017 headline tour of Australia and New Zealand as previously ‘teased’ on our social media,” the company said in an emailed statement.
Bluesfest declined Guardian Australia’s request for comment about whether he would still be appearing.
On Monday Young – who performed in November at the Dakota Access pipeline protest site – published a long post to Facebook co-written with the actor Daryl Hannah, urging Barack Obama to intervene in the pipeline standoff, and criticising the “unnecessary and violent aggression” faced by protesters at Standing Rock.
“We are calling upon you, President Barack Obama, to step in and end the violence against the peaceful water protectors at Standing Rock immediately,” he wrote.
