U.K. band Slowdive was forced to postpone an upcoming tour after drummer Simon Scott suffered a back injury. The shoegaze pioneers were set to perform at the first Daydream Festival in Melbourne on April 22 to kick off an Australian tour. Slowdive is known for its first two albums, Just for a Day (1991) and Soulvaki (1993).
“We are sorry to announce that we have to postpone our upcoming shows in Australia due to unforeseen circumstances,” the group said in a statement on April 21. “Our drummer, Simon Scott, has suffered an injury to his back prior to our departure that has left him unable to travel or to perform for the moment. We will endeavour to reschedule our planned club shows so please hold tickets for those shows for now and we’ll provide more information as we have it. We appreciate your support and understanding, and wish Simon a speedy recovery.”
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Their Australian tour was set to start at the Daydream Festival in Melbourne, alongside Modest Mouse, Cloud Nothings, and other acts, reports NME. They had headlining shows scheduled for Adelaide, Perth, and Sydney. They were also set to perform at the Daydream Festival editions in Sydney and Brisbane.
Destroy All Lines, the promoter for the Daydream Festival, asked fans to hold onto tickets. “We urge fans to hold onto their tickets as we work through rescheduling the headline dates. All existing headline tour tickets will be valid for the rescheduled dates,” the agency said. They added that acts would perform “extended sets” to make up for Slowdive’s absence at the Melbourne concert.
Since the tickets were not refundable for the Melbourne show, fans grew frustrated with Destroy All Lines, especially those who bought their tickets just to see Slowdive. “The resolution for Melbourne is unsatisfactory – won’t trust your events in the future,” one person wrote. “Extended set for other bands is not a solution,” another commented.
Slowdive has not announced new dates or provided new updates on Simon’s condition. The band was founded in Reading, England in 1989 and consists of guitarists Rachel Goswell, Neil Halstead, and Christian Savill, bassist Nick Chaplin, and Scott. They broke up after releasing three albums between 1991 and 1995, but reunited in 2014 and released their fourth album, Slowdive, in 2017. Halstead recently told the SixPack podcast they finished their next album.
“Some of the stuff I bought in was very electronic-based because that’s where I’m coming from sometimes,” he said of the new material, reports NME. “And then it will work its way back to being an indie, guitar thing. We end up meeting in a place where everyone is happy.”
