Veteran post-hardcore band At the Drive-In have canceled their remaining North American tour dates, after calling off last night’s show at New York City’s Terminal 5 just two hours before it was set to start. Singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala is suffering from an illness that affects his vocal cords, the band said.
The band previously canceled Wednesday night’s (June 15) gig at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. for the same reason. In an early-morning Facebook post, the group announced that “all further shows on our North American tour, up to and including the Amnesia Festival appearance on June 25th are cancelled.” The next scheduled shows were set for tonight (June 18) in Boston and June 20 and 21 in Detroit.
New York fans were already inside Terminal 5 when drummer Tony Hajjar and guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López took the stage to announce the cancelation. “We feel absolutely horrible but we have a goal, our goal is to continue being a band for a very long time,” Hajjar says in a fan-shot video posted to Instagram. “Obviously we set up, we’re here. We sound-checked. We couldn’t get to it and it’s not plausible for us to do a show.”
“He can’t sing, that’s the reality, we’re bummed out, you’re bummed out, you showed up, we showed up, this is what we’re dealing with,” added Rodríguez-López.
Bixler-Zavala’s health concerns are not the first bump in At the Drive-In’s latest reunion: guitarist Jim Ward parted ways with the group he helped found just before the tour began. In addition, Hajjar is a member of hard-rock supergroup Gone Is Gone, which has canceled upcoming July dates in New York and Washington, D.C.
Below, see a statement from At the Drive-In and fan-shot video of the Terminal 5 cancelation announcement. Mexican-American punk group Le Butcherettes were scheduled to open the show, prompting one audience member to ask if they could still perform.
Correction: This post has been updated to reflect the cancelation of the North American leg of At the Drive-In’s tour.
