Zack de la Rocha badly injured his leg on July 11 running across the stage during the second show of Rage Against the Machine‘s in-progress first tour since 2010, but he’s been performing while seated ever since and the shows have gone off without a hitch (even though stagehands have had to carry the vocalist on and off the stage every night).
And while de la Rocha’s condition was apparently manageable up until now, it has forced the group to cancel its first European tour in 14 years, which was to begin Aug. 24 in Edinburgh.
The decision was chalked up to “medical guidance” in an Instagram post from the band this morning. “It is with great disappointment that we announce this cancellation,” it reads, adding that Rage will finish its run at New York’s Madison Square Garden tonight (Aug. 11), tomorrow and on Aug. 14 before de la Rocha returns “home for rest and rehabilitation.”
“The flights, travel time and the rigorous schedule in the U.K. and Europe are simply too much of a risk for a complete recovery,” the band says. “We are sorry to all of our fans who have waited years to see us and hope to Rage again soon.”
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Today’s news does not impact Rage’s planned 2023 road work, which will begin Feb. 22 in Las Cruces, N.M., but it’s the latest in a long line of postponements, cancellations, and bizarre occurrences for a tour that was supposed to begin more than two years ago. Most recently, guitarist Tom Morello was accidentally tackled by security during a Toronto show as they attempted to apprehend a fan who’d jumped on stage.
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