The Who cancel UK and Ireland tour due to COVID-19 concerns

The Who have cancelled their planned 10-date tour of the UK and Ireland, which was set to launch at Dublin’s 3Arena on March 5.

Postponed from last March, the rescheduled tour was facing on-going restrictions designed to combat the transmission of the Covid-19 virus.

In a joint statement, guitarist Pete Townshend and frontman Roger Daltrey expressed their disappointment at having to push back the dates for a second time.

“We are very sorry that we have to cancel our planned March 2021 UK and Ireland shows. Please excuse the delay but we wanted to wait as long as possible to see if we could indeed play them. However, as you can see the current situation makes this impossible. Thanks for all your wonderful support and we hope to see you in the future when conditions allow.”

Customers can contact their point of purchase for refunds to The Who’s UK and Ireland tour, which currently has no rescheduled dates. The band were touring in support of their 2019 album, WHO, which Pat Carty called a "defiant two fingers in the air."

Unfortunately, The Who’s forthcoming UK and Ireland tour due March 2021 has now been cancelled. Customers can contact their point of purchase regarding refunds.https://t.co/zJLxO8DZLT pic.twitter.com/Y4i7SBBUkP

— The Who (@TheWho) February 15, 2021

Daltrey and Townshend recently added their names to a letter which accused Boris Johnson’s government of “shamefully” failing British musicians in striking a Brexit deal which could make European tours “unenviable”.

In a letter published in The Times - also signed by Roger Waters, Brian May, Robert Plant and The Darkness - the musicians wrote:

“British musicians, dancers, actors and their support staff have been shamefully failed by their government. The deal done with the EU has a gaping hole where the promised free movement for musicians should be: everyone on a European music tour will now need costly work permits and a mountain of paperwork for their equipment.

“We urge the government to do what it said it would do and negotiate paperwork-free travel in Europe for British artists and their equipment," the letter continues.

"For the sake of British fans wanting to see European performers in the U.K. and British venues wishing to host them, the deal should be reciprocal.”