Public Enemy are no longer coming to Australia due to Chuck D’s eye surgery.
The hip-hop legends announced the postponement of their Down Under tour dates via a press statement today (September 30th), confirming that all shows will be rescheduled.
“I’m sorry to make you wait a little longer but I need to get this eye surgery done, so I can really rock the house for you and Bring The Noise. Stay tuned for the new dates,” Chuck D said in the statement.
The statement added that “all existing ticketholders will be notified of rescheduled dates once confirmed and need not take action; original purchases will be valid for the rescheduled date without the need for exchange.”
The hip hop revolutionaries were due to bring their ‘On the Grid 35th Anniversary Tour’ to Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle, and Brisbane this October.
Formed in 1985, Chuck D and Flavor Flav have been two of the loudest voices in hip hop over the past four decades. They were honoured in 2013 with induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Public Enemy’s impact has extended far beyond music, with the hip hop group being at the forefront of the fight against racial injustice and inequality in the US and beyond, using their powerful platform for good.
Chuck D recently chatted with Rolling Stone AU/NZ about, among other things, cancel culture. On the subject of cancel culture, the MC had reservations.
“They’re all scared, man,” he told the publication. “Musicians, artists, entertainers have now been governed by fear, fear of being canceled. In my case, I’m like, I don’t know who’s orchestrated this all. All I know is it’s madness.”
According to Chuck, the “dirge and the noise” on social platforms “is so loud that your best human intellectual response is to step back away and see it all kind of play out. I can’t make any statement on the lunacy I’ve seen the past six months.”
