Zac Brown Band Postpone 2020 The Owl Tour Dates Due to Coronavirus Concerns
Editor's Note: Due to the continued spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), this tour is now canceled. Click here for full details.
After hitting the road in late February, Zac Brown Band have postponed the remainder of their 2020 The Owl Tour "out of caution and due to increasing public health concerns," the band says. They announced the news in a statement on Tuesday afternoon (March 10).
"This was an extremely difficult decision," ZBB write, "but the well-being of our fans is always our top priority."
Zac Brown Band have already played five The Owl Tour dates this year, after extending the trek from 2019. Their next scheduled show was set for March 12 in St. Louis, Mo.; however, that show and a dozen others, including an April 25 stop in Nashville, Tenn., will be rescheduled.
Per ZBB's statement, they'll be announcing reschedule dates "soon." The band is asking fans to keep their tickets for the shows, as they will be honored on the new dates.
Zac Brown Band's The Owl Tour postponement comes in light of the spread of COVID-19, commonly known as coronavirus. While both Old Dominion and Home Free have canceled international tour dates following the outbreak, ZBB are the first country group to cancel shows within the United States due to the spread of the virus.
Coronavirus has also wreaked havoc on major festivals: The Austin-based music and tech festival SXSW canceled its 2020 event in early March; it'll be the first time in 34 years that the festival does not take place. The Tin Pan South Songwriters Festival has been postponed until the summer of 2020, and the organizers of the Stagecoach and Coachella festivals are in talks to postpone both events, scheduled for April, until the fall.
According to the World Heath Organization (WHO), there have been over 113,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus worldwide. CNN reports at least 849 cases across the U.S. as of March 10; twenty-seven people in the U.S. have died.
Zac Brown Band are scheduled to begin their 2020 Roar With the Lions Tour on May 24 in Gilford, N.H. "At this time," the band says, those dates "will be performed as planned."
Coronavirus Pandemic: Which Tours and Festivals Are Canceled (and Not)?