Xavier Naidoo
Photo: Getty Images, Marco Prosch. All rights reserved.
Xavier Naidoo’s (50) “back and forth” tour, which ran over eight stations, was highly controversial until the end. Because of his delusional radicalization with repeated postings on social media that spread conspiracy theories and right-wing extremist ideas, protests against the concerts had formed in many places. Now his agency canceled the entire tour – because of Corona.
“Unfortunately, Xavier Naidoo’s 2022 open-air tour, which has already been postponed several times, has to be canceled due to the ongoing pandemic and the associated planning uncertainty,” says the Live Nation website. “The decision was difficult for everyone involved, but despite the openings that are emerging, it remains uncertain whether and to what extent concerts of this size can take place or under what conditions.” The tour is to be rescheduled when there is “reliable planning” again.
“I hope that we will all soon overcome this pandemic together and that I can finally play my tour. Hold on and above all stick together, because what we can’t do alone, we can do together,” the message quoted Naidoo in a “personal statement”.
“Unbearable if Xavier Naidoo had performed on our properties”
The daily newspaper Südkurier documents the internal upheavals at the venue In Schloss Salem. The Margravial administration of Baden defended the performance of the concert, pointing out that the company was strong enough to endure “absurd statements”. In contrast, the state government of Baden-Württemberg, as the owner of the castle complex, sees the case completely differently. “It would have been unbearable if Xavier Naidoo had appeared on our properties,” Finance Minister Danyal Bayaz (Greens) told Südkurier.
At the Seebühne Forggensee in Füssen, Bavaria, the local organizer would have preferred to terminate the contract concluded in 2019 in advance. “As of today, the Festspielhaus would no longer allow a concert by Xavier Naidoo on its premises and distances itself in every way from his political statements,” the theater director there is quoted as saying in the Allgäuer Zeitung.
The extent to which there will be major concerts with Naidoo again at a later date remains open. The construction of a summer tour on nationwide open-air stages should be passé. With the repeated postponement due to the pandemic, catch-up dates are at least theoretically possible. Whether it ever happens again depends primarily on the behavior of Xavier Naidoo himself.