Amanda Palmer cancels tour to be by sick friend’s side

It’d be difficult for even the most vitriolic Amanda Palmer hater to fault the controversial, publicity-seeking — oh, and talented, too — artist for canceling her touring schedule for the forseeable future.

Her best friend is struggling with cancer. “He has cancer. Leukemia. A bad kind,” as she put it in her blog.

So she’s going to stay home with him until the situation is resolved.

While that may seem to be coded language to suggest she’ll be there at his side until he dies, she doesn’t seem to look at it in such a fatalistic way.

“We don’t know what the outcome will be,” she says.

Good for her.

Amanda’s move is similar, in terms of its personality-revealing quality, to Fiona Apple‘s recent decision to leave the tour circuit to be with her dying dog.

Read the full text of Amanda’s announcement after the jump,

dear comrades-

this is the hardest text i’ve ever had to send to this email list, because i’m usually brimming with awesome, exciting news.

this is not exciting news.

i have decided to postpone/cancel my upcoming tours so that i can stay in boston with my best friend anthony, who has cancer and just started treatment. we don’t know what the outcome will be.

i just posted a longer blog about everything HERE.
please read it, so you can understand what’s going on.

this is really hard to do.

NEW YEAR’S EVE at Terminal 5 in NYC is still happening.
(and the band is going to “purple rain” the shit out of all y’all.)
please come, dressed to the nines, and please SING LOUDLY WITH US.
we need you.

after that, i don’t know. i’m sticking pretty close to boston for the foreseeable future.
i am going to be a relatively stay-at-home rock star.

as for the kickstarter house parties…you’ll hear from myself and eric (@southships) if we’ve already been talking and need to reschedule. I know you were all waiting so patiently for these, and i should be able to deliver all of them within the projected time frame with no problem….i’m committed to making it work and hoping that you won’t need to wait too long. these parties are going to be my lifeline to my audience for a while…believe me, i want to do them.

here is the nitty gritty info about tickets/refunds/etc:

Australia and New Zealand-

The upcoming tour dates WILL BE RESCHEDULED — our team is working hard to nail this down now. the dates will probably be september or october, and we hope to announce these dates in the next 2-3 weeks. if you have already purchased a ticket for shows in January or February- your tickets WILL STILL BE VALID FOR THE RESCHEDULED SHOWS. you can keep your current tickets, and you don’t need to purchase new ones. you’ll be updated directly by Frontier with further info about the rescheduled shows as well. if, however, you would like a refund before the rescheduled dates are announced, please contact your relevant ticketing agency directly;

MELBOURNE – Ticketmaster 136 100

SYDNEY & BRISBANE – Ticketek 132 849

PERTH – Show Ticketing (08) 9370 5888 or boxoffice@showticketing.com.au

ADELAIDE – Venue*Tix (08) 8225 8888 or bookings2@venuetix.com.au

BYRON BAY – Oztix 1300 762 545 or info@oztix.com.au

WELLINGTON – Ticketmaster 0800 111 999 or customer.help@ticketmaster.co.nz

AUCKLAND – Q Theatre (09) 309 9771 or boxoffice@qtheatre.co.nz

MONA FOMA festival in TASMANIA – i won’t be appearing, and tickets are fully refundable. i hope you consider going to the festival anyway, it’s AMAZING. i’m so bummed to be missing it – it’s one of the things i was looking forward to most of all. MOFO will offer full refunds on tickets purchased. To claim a refund please call or visit the Theatre Royal Box Office: Theatre Royal Box Office (9am – 5pm Mon to Fri), 29 Campbell St Hobart, Phone 03 6233 2299 (or freecall outside Hobart 1800 650 277)

Europe
at the moment- we are not certain when these shows will be rescheduled. i DO plan to make up the tour, hopefully within a year. if you wish to hold onto your ticket, it will be valid for the rescheduled show in MOST markets (but not all — again, we cannot control this, and have already been told that this will NOT be the case in Austria. Please check with your local ticketing agent where you purchased the tickets to be sure). to obtain a refund please contact the outlet you purchased your tickets from directly. they will handle the refund for you. sadly, the ticketing outlets cannot refund the actual booking fee, only the face value cost of the ticket. i’m really sorry about that one, but it’s just the way the business works and its out of our hands. i really wish there was more we could do there. thanks for all your understanding, and let’s all pray for the future of ticketing to change.

Amandapalmer.net Pre-Sale Purchases
if you purchased your tickets through the Topspin presale via amandapalmer.net, your refund will occur automatically to the credit card you used for purchase. sadly we must refund all pre-sale tickets. the system won’t allow us to let folk hold on to their tickets. if you wish to attend the show when we reschedule- you will have to purchase a new ticket when we announce the tour.

i love you guys.
stay with me….
and hopefully see you all soon.

xx
a