Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor has cancelled his solo tour dates of Asia that were due to take place in Japan and the Philippines.
The announcement comes weeks after the January 24 announcement of these four shows running from March 25 to April 1 in Tokyo, Osaka and Manila. Besides fronting Slipknot and Stone Sour, Taylor has released two solo albums to date.
In a statement released by Filipino promoter Insignia Presents yesterday (February 5), as reported by Bandwagon, Taylor stated that “This is not a decision I made lightly, I have never cancelled shows until recently. But I am prioritising myself in the near term, so I can come back stronger.”
In early January, Taylor cancelled a North American tour, saying that “For the past several months my mental and physical health have been breaking down, and I reached a place that was unhealthy for my family and I.” A few weeks later, the four-day run of shows in Asia was announced.
Taylor later responded to fans who were confused why the North American shows were axed when the Asian ones were going ahead. He shared a video in which he said the Asian tour was a short run: “It’s literally a week. I’m gonna see how I do with that and take it day by day basically.”
At the end of the video, Taylor assured his fans that he was getting the help he needed: “I’m working on self care right now, I’m getting the help I need, and surrounding myself with my family.”
Taylor was due to kick off his Asia tour with two shows at Zepp Haneda in Tokyo, Japan on March 25-26. He would have followed up with a gig at Zepp Osaka Bayside on March 28, and wrapped things up at the New Frontier Theater in Manila, the Philippines, on April 1.
Insignia Presents apologised to fans who had been “looking forward to Corey Taylor’s debut performance in the Philippines”. The Filipino promoter said that tickets bought online would be automatically refunded, while those purchased from the Ticketnet Box Office and mall outlets would be refunded in cash from February 20 to March 20.
The tour was initially planned in support of Taylor’s sophomore solo album, ‘CMF2’, which scored a three-star review from NME upon its release in September last year. In the review, NME‘s Jordan Bassett wrote: “There’s enough good stuff on here to justify the album’s existence. And if nothing else, it’s a fascinating insight into the dichotomy that drives one of the greatest bands of the 21st Century.”
