Arcade Fire‘s show at London’s O2 tonight will go ahead tonight (September 8), despite the announcement of the death of Queen Elizabeth II hours before.
The Queen of the United Kingdom, who succeeded to the throne in 1952 aged 25, passed away today.
“The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon,” The Royal Family shared in a statement at 6:30pm BST. “The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow.”
The news of Arcade Fire’s gig was shared via The O2’s social media.
In a statement, they said: “The O2 is incredibly saddened to hear of the passing of Her Majesty The Queen and would like to extend its sincerest condolences to the Royal Family at this time of national mourning. Tonight’s arena event with will take place as planned and The O2 remains open.”
The band began their 2022 UK and Ireland headline tour on August 30 at Dublin’s 3Arena. This was followed by dates in Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow.
The O2 is incredibly saddened to hear of the passing of Her Majesty The Queen and would like to extend its sincerest condolences to the Royal Family at this time of national mourning. Tonight’s arena event with will take place as planned and The O2 remains open.
— The O2 (@TheO2) September 8, 2022
The band are to play The O2 tonight and continue their tour, despite recent allegations of sexual misconduct against frontman Win Butler.
On Saturday (August 27), Pitchfork published an article in which four former fans of the band – who were aged between 18 and 23 at the time of the alleged interactions – accused Butler of sexual misconduct.
After the accusations came to light, some fans called on the group to cancel their tour or offer refunds to those who no longer wanted to attend.
Earlier this month, Feist left her tour with Arcade Fire, citing the allegation. She opened for the Dublin show as planned, but committed to donating all proceeds earned from her merch sales to the local chapter of Women’s Aid.
Arcade Fire responded to Feist according to Consequence, writing in a statement, “We are very sorry to see Leslie go home, but completely understand and respect her decision.”
Butler replied to the allegations in a lengthy statement of his own, claiming he was “very sorry to anyone who I have hurt with my behaviour” but maintaining that “these relationships were all consensual”.
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