Ringo Starr cancels remaining tour dates amid second bout of COVID-19

Ringo Starr has cancelled the last five dates of his current North American tour, after contracting COVID-19 for a second time in the span of a fortnight.

• READ MORE: Soundtrack Of My Life: Ringo Starr

First testing positive for the virus at the start of October, the Beatle was forced to cancel seven shows between Michigan and British Columbia. He returned to the road on Tuesday (October 11) – flanked by the All-Starr Band – performing in Seattle then and in Portland the following night (October 12).

It appears that his comeback was premature, though, as Starr has now confirmed he’s again returned to being COVID-positive. “I’m sure you’ll be as surprised as I was,” he wrote in a statement shared on social media, alerting his fans that “the rest of the tour is off”.

Starr and co. were due to play three more shows in the US this week – one in San Jose tomorrow (October 14) followed by gigs in Paso Robles and Los Angeles over the weekend – before the tour wrapped up over two nights in Mexico City. At the time of writing, it’s not clear whether Starr plans to reschedule those dates; for the time being, his touring calendar is completely empty.

This marks the third time Starr’s North American tour had its itinerary shaken up. Back in June, he postponed a slew of shows with the All-Starr Band after two of its members – keyboardist Edgar Winter and guitarist Steve Lukather – tested positive for COVID-19.

“We are so sorry to let the fans down,” Starr wrote in a message to fans at the time. “It’s been wonderful to be back out on the road and we have been having such a great time playing for you all. But as we all know, [COVID-19] is still here and despite being careful these things happen.”

Starr put out his latest solo album, ‘What’s My Name’, in 2019. He followed it up with two EPs in 2021 – ‘Zoom In’ and ‘Change The World’ – and last month, released the four-track ‘EP3’.

Later this month (on October 28), he’ll feature in the documentary Let There Be Drums! A trailer for the film – which also features late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, Stewart Copeland of The Police, the Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ Chad Smith and more – arrived today.

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