This year was primed to be a return to live shows after a year that saw almost none of them. But those who were hoping to see Fleetwood Mac’s lead vocalist Stevie Nicks perform live will have to wait until at least 2022. The singer took to Twitter on Tuesday to announce that she is canceling her planned performances for 2021 due to rising COVID-19 cases across the country.
“These are challenging times with challenging decisions that have to be made,” she wrote in her message. “I want everyone to be safe and healthy and the rising Covid cases should be of concern to all of us. While I’m vaccinated, at my age, I am still being extremely cautious and for that reason have decided to skip the 5 performances I had planned for 2021.” She added, “Because singing and performing have been my whole life, my primary goal is to keep healthy so I can continue singing for the next decade or longer. I’m devastated and I know the fans are disappointed, but we will look towards a brighter 2022.”
During Labor Day weekend, Nicks was scheduled to perform at the Jazz Aspen Festival in Colorado and BottleRock Napa Valley in California. Her next scheduled appearance was at Austin City Limits on October 1-3 and October 8-10, where she would perform on both weekends of the festival. Nicks was also scheduled to perform at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in October, but the event was postponed until next spring, according to festival organizers.
Nicks will be replaced at Bottleneck by Chris Stapleton, while subs for her appearances at the Jazz Aspen and Austin City Limits festivals will be announced soon.