Elton John's management yesterday announced the singer's entire European Red Piano tour has been cancelled because the tour's promoter "could not guarantee to put the shows on".
In a statement, representatives of the singer said: "We regret to announce that Elton John's European Red Piano shows scheduled for June and July 2007 have been cancelled. The promoter has been unable to guarantee to put on the shows, resulting in us having to take this very difficult decision. We do of course appreciate that Elton's fans will be disappointed at this news, and we are already looking into the possibility of returning to the affected cities in the very near future".
The affected shows were due to take place in Venice, Berlin, Moscow, Paris and Seville. The latter show had originally been due to take place last week but had already been pushed back to the end of the summer for "technical reasons". The exact reasons as to why promoters of the European tour were unable to deliver the shows is unclear, although the Red Piano tour, which is based on John's Las Vegas show, does involve ambitious, complicated sets and multi-media staging.