Eric Claptonwhich announced last summer that it reserves the right to cancel shows at venues where audience members were required to show proof Corona virus disease Vaccination has already canceled two shows, but for another reason: Clapton has just been confirmed to have the coronavirus.
The cancellation of the show in Zurich and Milan was announced on Clapton’s official Facebook page last night.
“Eric Clapton unfortunately suffers from Covid disease after he tested positive shortly after his second concert at the Royal Albert Hall,” the post read. His medical advisors told him that if he resumed traveling and performing tasks too soon, it could significantly delay his full recovery. Eric is also careful to avoid passing an injury on to any of his squad, crew, promoters, staff and of course the fans.”
The show was scheduled to take place in Zurich today, May 17, with the Milan concert initially scheduled for May 18. Clapton says the guitarist hopes to resume the tour starting with concerts in Bologna on May 20-21.
Clapton has been a prominent opponent of Covid protocols in the UK and US, most notably the lockdowns and business closures enacted during the early days of the global pandemic. Clapton, who last year claimed he experienced “catastrophic” side effects – he said his hands and feet were “frozen, numb or burned, and largely useless for two weeks” – collaborated with singer Van Morrison in 2020 on – the song “Stand and Deliver” which included the words “Do you want to wear these chains / Till you lie in the grave?”
In his own song, “This Has Gotta Stop”, Clapton sang “I knew something was going wrong / When I started making the law / I can’t move my hand… This has to stop / Enough that’s enough / I can’t Take that BS anymore.” Next, he subscribed to the conspiracy theory that vaccination is encouraged by esoteric hypnosis and “mass psychosis.”
Clapton’s team wrote on their Facebook page last night, “It is very frustrating that he has avoided Covid throughout the lockdown and for as long as travel restrictions were in place, Eric should have succumbed to Covid at this time, but we very much hope he will recover adequately by the end of the week to be able to perform the rest of the planned performances.”
Another announcement regarding the rescheduling of postponed shows will be announced at a later time.
Clapton recently announced North American tour dates for September, including stops in Columbus, Ohio; Chicago and Pittsburgh and two shows at Madison Square Gardens in New York City.
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