Less than a week after Azealia Banks cancelled the Melbourne date of her Australian tour, the New York rapper has announced a replacement show.
Banks was originally supposed to perform at Festival Hall in Melbourne on Saturday night (December 10) but, hours before doors were set to open, it was cancelled due to issues with Banks’ visa being granted in time. Banks was in Auckland, where she had performed without issue the night before, and her visa was only accepted after flights into Australia had been exhausted.
At the time, organisers Point Productions said the show would be rescheduled, something Banks later denied, blaming the promoters. “Major apologies to the fans who bought tickets but there will be no rescheduled show. I have shit to do,” she said.
Nevertheless, Banks has now announced a rescheduled Melbourne show at the Timber Yard in Melbourne for this Sunday (December 18). Refunds are available via Ticketmaster for ticketholders who are unable to attend the new date.
In a statement to Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, a spokesperson for the Timber Yard said Banks’ show was “definitely confirmed for here on Sunday”.
Banks’ Sydney show took place as planned at the Enmore Theatre on Sunday night (December 11), but she cancelled her planned gig at the Tivoli in Brisbane on Tuesday evening (December 13). At the time, Point Productions said the gig was unable to take place “due to unforeseen circumstances” that were “well out of [their] control”.
Earlier that day, before the show was cancelled, Banks posted a story on an alternate Instagram account of hers, saying she would come to Brisbane but that there would be “loads of security measures” and that “everything that can be considered a projectile” would be checked at coat check. “The minute something stupid happens I’m leaving,” she added.
She also took aim at Australian promoters, accusing them of “[crafting] slave like contracts and [trying] to hang revocation of work visas and non-payment over your head, even when you are in physical danger… completely souring the joy and bliss of performing.”
Banks also vowed that this would be her last time touring Australia, saying the country makes her “utterly miserable” and she is “too black and beautiful to have a bunch of white people in my face playing with me over their weak ass currency”.
Banks’ last time touring Australia was in 2015, for Splendour in the Grass. She described the appearance as a “waste of [her] fucking time”, and lambasted “terrible” crowds in Australia for being “violent and belligerent”.