NEW wave heavyweights Simple Minds have forfeited plans to tour Australia for the foreseeable future due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The Scottish band first announced in November 2019 their intention to return to Pokolbin's Bimbadgen on December 5 last year to celebrate their 40-year anniversary of forming in Glasgow.
Fellow '80s band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark were booked as the support in what would have been their first Australian tour since 1987.
COVID caused the Don't You (Forget About Me) hit-makers to postpone the tour and reschedule the Hunter Valley show for December 11. However, this time Jim Kerr, Charlie Burchill and the gang have scratched the tour altogether.
"We regret to advise that due to ongoing international travel restrictions and uncertainty surrounding national border closures because of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, they have taken the decision to cancel the Simple Minds' 40 Years of Hits Tour, originally rescheduled for December 2021," Frontier Touring announced in a statement.
The recent outbreak in Sydney and the resulting lockdown has led to a raft of gig cancellations and postponements just when the industry was regaining momentum after a devastating 2020.
Simple Minds last played Bimbadgen in February 2017 and returned to the Hunter in November 2018 to headline the second Newcastle 500 Supercars at No.1 Sportsground.
