June 11, 2008 19:24

MIA cancels UK tour

'I physically have to stop for a second' she says

Photo Gallery: MIA

MIA has cancelled her forthcoming tour of the UK, and made the announcement while performing at the MoMA in New York last night (June 9).

She mentioned the cancellation during her performance at McCarren Pool in Brooklyn on Friday night, and confirmed the tour is off before her set last night at MoMA’s 40th annual benefit ‘Party in the Garden’.

“This is my last show. I cancelled the UK tour. Nobody knows. This is it. You’re hearing it first. My manager was supposed to cancel it yesterday, but he was watching football — don’t tell anyone — and he forgot. So nobody knows. I guess now they will,” she told New York Magazine.

“I’m canceling because I feel like physically I just have to stop for a second. It’s too insane. I was losing a sense of just, like, reality, you know what I mean? I think for an artist like me, it’s so important for me to be in the streets and go to the same shop every day and see the same people and, like, communicate. And it’s really difficult to do that when you’re in the city every day for 24 hours. Like, I love connecting with my band, but I want to actually help them and be a part of peoples’ lives. Which is really hard when you’re on tour.”

And she says she will be using the time to put out a new album:

“I’ve been writing on tour. I’m really into writing new songs. I’m going to put out a new record instead. At the end of the day, I’m here, you know.”

--By our New York staff.
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