Coronavirus pushes back spring tour
Country superstar Reba McEntire has postponed her upcoming arena tour, originally scheduled to launch next weekend, due to the coronavirus. The newly rescheduled dates launch July 9th in Huntsville, AL and wrap August 8th in Evansville, IN. Previously purchased tickets will be honored for all dates. Rescheduled dates are listed below.
“For the safety of everyone, we have decided to postpone our new arena tour until July,” shares Reba. “All tickets will be honored for the new dates. Most importantly, stay safe and take care of you and your loved ones. We’ll get through this together.”
For the first time ever, Reba will also be offering fans the opportunity to purchase VIP experience packages outside of her Vegas residencies including a meet & greet with the country music icon, premium seating, access to the “Fancy” Lounge with food, drinks and a special exhibit featuring memorabilia spanning her impressive career, exclusive merchandise and more. VIP packages are available in limited quantities for each show.
Reba returns to Las Vegas this spring with Brooks & Dunn for their Together in Vegas residency. As of this writing, the April shows are still going on.
This comes following an earlier report today (Thurs, March 12th) that Live Nation, the world’s largest concert promoter, was suspending all domestic and international touring through at least the end of March. Billboard reports that the company has instructed tours to return home in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak worldwide.
A Live Nation executive told employees by phone that March is usually a slow touring month, but execs will re-evaluate the situation at the beginning of April. The company is hoping to resume all tours in May or June.
A slew of artists and festivals were either canceled or postponed due to the worldwide pandemic in the past week. Many acts, including Blake Shelton, Kenny Chesney, Chris Stapleton, The Who, Pearl Jam, Dan + Shay, Sammy Hagar, Santana, Sons of Apollo, Zac Brown Band, Slipknot and others, had canceled or postponed spring shows due to the outbreak before Live Nation’s announcement.
Major festivals and events have also been canceled including the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo to shutting down 11 days early because of public health concerns, SXSW in Austin and the Ultra Festival in Miami. Promoters Goldenvoice Entertainment announced earlier this week that Coachella and Stagecoach have been pushed back six months to October 2020 due to the coronavirus outbreak. The Tin Pan South Songwriters Festival in Nashville has also been rescheduled “in light of the tornado this week as well as growing health concerns over the coronavirus.”
The C2C: Country to Country Festival in London, Dublin and Glasgow has also been postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak
The 35th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony set for May 2nd has also been indefinitely postponed. No new date has been set as of this writing.
The ACM (Academy of Country Music) Awards are still slated to be held in Las Vegas in April, but organizers are monitoring the situation closely. CMA Music Fest organizers are also closely watching the outbreak as they prep for the June event in Nashville.
Earlier this week, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus a worldwide pandemic. More than 125,000 cases have been reported in 110 countries with nearly 5000 deaths. However, nearly 70k people have contracted and survived the virus that was discovered last year.
On Wednesday (March 11th), U.S. President Donald Trump declared a 30 day travel ban to European countries, except the U.K., for foreign nationals that goes into effect at midnight on Friday, March 13th. He shares, “I am confident by counting and continuing to take these measures we will significantly reduce the threat to our citizens and we will ultimately and expeditiously defeat this virus,” per Fox News.
Rescheduled Reba Tour Dates:
July 9 Huntsville, AL Von Braun Center Arena
July 10 Duluth, GA Infinite Energy Center
July 11 Biloxi, MS Mississippi Coast Coliseum
July 16 Pittsburgh, PA PPG Paints Arena
July 17 Toledo, OH Huntington Center
July 18 Bethlehem, PA Wind Creek Event Center
July 23 St. Paul, MN Xcel Energy Center
July 24 Rosemont, IL Allstate Arena
July 31 Green Bay, WI Resch Center
Aug 1 Sioux Falls, SD Denny Sanford Premier Center
Aug 6 Grand Rapids, MI Van Andel Arena
Aug 7 Peoria, IL Peoria Civic Center
Aug 8 Evansville, IN Ford Center