stephornyak: Ke$ha Postpones Japan Tour Dates

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Ke$ha Postpones Japan Tour Dates

Ne-Yo, Cyndi Lauper continue to perform in the country following earthquake.
By Gil Kaufman

Ke$ha
Photo: Noel Vasquez/ Getty Images

As the people of Japan continue to struggle with recovering from the nation's devastating earthquake and tsunami, some artists are being forced to cancel their tour dates in the nation. Ke$ha released a statement on Monday announcing that she would have to postpone her upcoming dates in Japan.

"My heart is with Japan right now through this disaster and these hardships," the singer wrote on her website. "I genuinely don't think right now would be appropriate timing for me to perform in Japan given the content and the spirit of my show, which is all about feeling exuberant, rowdy, and wild. ... I plan to bring my party there and to that part of the world when we are all ready to dance and Get $leazy together again. In the meantime I am going to do everything I can to help relief efforts and I encourage everyone in the world to do the same."

In the meantime, Ke$ha has a string of North American dates kicking off on April 1 with a show in Clarion, Pennsylvania, and running through early May.

According to Billboard, the promoter of the scotched Japanese tour, Creativeman Productions, also announced that it would be canceling a pair of its annual spring festivals. The Springgroove, an R&B, soul and hip-hop festival scheduled for April 2 near Tokyo and April 3 in Osaka, would have featured Nelly and Flo Rida, among others. Also called off was then annual hardcore Punkspring festival on April 1 and 2 in Osaka and Nagoya with headliners Good Charlotte and Hoobastank.

Ne-Yo continued with his planned dates in Japan over the weekend, performing a show in Nagoya on Friday and launching a charity initiative to help the people of the country. Called "Spread Love Through Music," the show included donation boxes at the concert to help those in need and the sale of a special wristband with proceeds going to earthquake relief. He plans to do the same during his shows on Tuesday (March 22) in Yokohama and Thursday in Tokyo. "You can absolutely spread love through music, and I think that's what's absolutely called for in this time of crisis," he said in a video on his website.

Also currently touring Japan is Cyndi Lauper, who is slated to play a show in Osaka on Tuesday and was in the country promoting her Memphis Blues album when the quake hit on March 11. She's been tweeting about her experience all along, and on Monday, she wrote about the healing power of music in the shattered country.

"Miss my family but have my music family and the warmth of the peeps I sing to. Tonight I will lose myself in the music and the rhythm," she wrote. Like Ne-Yo, she is asking fans to donate cash at the shows to earthquake relief and is donating all royalties from sales of her Blues album in Japan to the Japanese Red Cross.

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