After months of radio silence, Drake has officially canned the remaining dates of his long-postponed Australia and New Zealand tour.
The Canadian rapper was meant to close out a 16-date run across the region earlier this year. It was his first in eight years. Only twelve shows went ahead. Then, in February, the final four in Brisbane, Sydney and Auckland were suddenly postponed due to what his team vaguely labelled a “scheduling conflict”. At the time, fans were promised new dates and even the possibility of more shows being added. None of that happened.
Today, five months later, Live Nation Australia confirmed what most had already figured out. It is not happening.
“Despite extensive efforts to find a solution, rescheduling within the necessary timeframe was not possible,” the statement read. “Drake remains committed to returning and performing these shows when his schedule permits.”
That may sound hopeful on paper, but if he could not sort it out in half a year, it is probably time to stop holding your breath.
This comes off the back of his ‘$ome $pecial $ongs 4 UK’ tour kicking off in Birmingham last week, where he leaned straight into the drama. After the crowd chanted “fuck Kendrick”, Drake responded, “Alright, alright, alright. I can’t say that I don’t agree.”
The tour has not been without issues either. A planned Manchester show was cancelled on Sunday due to “travel logistics”. It was meant to be the third of three nights at Co-op Live, which he had already packed out on Friday and Saturday.
Drake has also just made Wireless history by headlining all three nights of this year’s festival in London. It should have been a victory lap. Instead, the reviews were lukewarm and the vibe has been a little flat.
For fans down under, this just confirms what they had already suspected. We are not the priority and probably never were.
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