DURAN DURAN FORCED TO CANCEL THURSDAY NIGHT'S SHOW IN TULSA, OK
Keyboardist Nick Rhodes still unable to travel because of a serious ear infection
Duran Duran have been forced to cancel Thursday night's show (December 4) in Tulsa, OK, scheduled to take place at the Brady Theater, because the band's keyboard player, Nick Rhodes, is still suffering from a very serious inner ear infection and doctors have told him that he is not allowed to travel.
The four band members (Simon Le Bon, John Taylor, Roger Taylor and Nick Rhodes) have been on the road in Latin America since the start of November, and Thursday night's show would have been one of their first North American dates on the final leg of their year-long Red Carpet Massacre World Tour. The trouble started about a week ago, after the band had played at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil from where they were slated to travel to Mexico for shows in Guadalajara and Mexico City. Nick had been fighting a bad cold since their break in London, prior to the first South American show, but thought that he was well enough to travel on Tuesday morning with the other band members, who were all booked on a flight that stopped over in Panama for a couple of hours. By the time they reached Panama City, however, Nick was in severe pain and had to see a doctor at the airport, who said that it could endanger his hearing if he continued on with the flight, and that he would recommend going to the hospital for further tests. The rest of the traveling party continued on to Mexico City, leaving Nick and the band's tour manager in Panama.
Nick spent Wednesday at the Punta Pacifica Hospital in Panama City seeing a specialist, who confirmed that he had developed a serious infection in his inner ear, and that with the swelling and fluid build-up that had already occurred, the air pressure of a flight could create tremendous pain and even cause the ear drum to rupture, leading to long-term hearing damage. Nick had hoped that the inflammation would subside within a couple of days with the medication prescribed. Sadly, however, this has not been the case and when he went back to see the specialist today he was told that he would not be able to fly before Thursday, making it impossible for him to reach Tulsa in time for the show.
Nick will travel as soon as he is well enough, so that the band can resume the final dates of their tour. All of the band members are extremely disappointed that they will not be able to play on Thursday in Tulsa, and hope that they can make up the date future.
Duran Duran will finish their Red Carpet Massacre world tour on December 14, with a show in Montclair, New Jersey. These US dates will round out fourteen months of solid touring in support of their most recent studio album (Red Carpet Massacre), that kicked off in late October 2007 with a two week run on Broadway.
Tickets for Thursday night's show will be fully refundable from the point of purchase.
