"This is a bummer for everyone in the band and crew, to say nothing of the question hanging over everyone’s head - mine included - as to how I tested positive on PCR twice in two months," Mayer said.
Michael Kovac/Getty ImagesJohn Mayer was forced to postpone a slate of shows on his Sob Rock tour after he and several members of his band tested positive for Covid-19. For Mayer, this was his second positive Covid test in nearly as many months; a positive test at the beginning of January forced him to pull out of Dead and Company’s Playing the Sand concerts in Mexico.
“Whelp. More members of the band tested positive for Covid today, and I was one of them,” Mayer wrote on Instagram. “I’m so sorry to make you change your plans. This is a bummer for everyone in the band and crew, to say nothing of the question hanging over everyone’s head – mine included – as to how I tested positive on PCR twice in two months. (The first was extremely mild, but this one’s got the better of me.)”
Mayer has already rescheduled the four shows for May. He’ll be at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh on May 5; the UBS Arena in Belmont Park, New York on May 7; and then he’ll play two nights at the TD Garden in Boston on May 9 and 10. As it stands, Mayer is set to return to the road March 11 at the Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
“We’ll give you everything we’ve got at these upcoming shows, just as soon as we rest up and regroup,” Mayer added on Instagram.
Even before his surprise second positive test, Mayer’s Sob Rock tour was battling Covid issues. On Feb. 21, right before he was set to play Madison Square Garden in New York City, Mayer announced that his touring drummer had tested positive. The show did go ahead as planned, and Questlove actually stepped in for part of the show.
Smashing Pumpkins are hoping to bring their A Night of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness production to the Las Vegas Sphere for a one of a kind performance centered around the legendary 1995 album.
Billy Corgan is stepping away from traditional rock venues and leaning into the world of opera with his large scale A Night of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness tour, which transforms the band’s iconic record into a full orchestral and operatic experience.
Even though the group has not officially been invited to perform at the cutting edge venue in Las Vegas, Corgan admitted he would immediately embrace the opportunity.
Speaking with KROQ, he explained: “It’s a no-doubter for us. We just haven’t been asked yet.
“See, if the Sphere came to us and said, ‘We’d love you to do all of Mellon Collie with that production.’ Now, that makes sense to me to do something like that, to build the show around the album.
"Then you have a chance to recast the songs and the music in a different dynamic.”
The performance sees Corgan joined by acclaimed solo vocalists and complete orchestras, reshaping some of Smashing Pumpkins’ most beloved songs into expansive classical arrangements.
The project first premiered in Chicago and received overwhelming praise, with audiences and reviewers applauding the powerful reinterpretations of songs such as 1979 and Tonight, Tonight.
Corgan shared that the experience has become one of the most meaningful achievements of his artistic journey.
He said: “The success of translating Mellon Collie into operatic and classical form has been one of the most satisfying experiences of my life. Where on each of the 7 sold out nights in Chicago, we’d finish within the raucous wave of a standing ovation. So to now take it on the road, and to Europe, too says this magical dream doesn’t have to end.”
The production was developed by Corgan alongside Grammy nominated conductor James Lowe, who added: "It has been so gratifying to discover how the nuances and layers of Mellon Collie reveal themselves in fresh new ways in these symphonic, choral and operatic settings. To now have the opportunity to perform this work in Europe with world class musicians in such important venues is nothing short of thrilling."
The lineup features vocalists Ed Parks, Sydney Mancasola, Zoie Reams, Dominick Valdes Chenes and Dean Murphy. The wardrobe for the production was created by House of Gilles designers Gilles Mendel and Chloé Mendel Corgan.
The upcoming run will include several September performances throughout the UK, Belgium, France and Spain, highlighted by two special evenings at London’s Royal Festival Hall.
