Goth and post-punk icon Peter Murphy has announced today that he has to postpone for a third time his planned 15 night residency in San Francisco that was rescheduled for later this month. This prolonged ordeal began in 2017 with Murphy’s first postponement’s cause being the result of nodules on his vocal chords, and the second postponement being cited as a delay in processing his visa.
Murphy originally born a British national, but now a citizen of Turkey, is required to have an itinerary of live performances planned before an US artist visa application can proceed, with the normal application time usually taking no more than 4 months.
The seemingly unending delay of his US visa approval is attributed to what his management describes as being a backlog of Turkish applications due to strained diplomatic relationships between the two countries.
Read our article on US artist visa policy and how it is killing underground music.
Meanwhile, following a performance in Mexico celebrating 40 Years of Bauhaus, Murphy has stated that he plans to perform more festival gigs and dates with Bassist David J Haskins. The duo have effectively formed reunion of half the members of Bauhaus, while the other half—Kevin Haskins and Daniel Ash—perform as Poptone.
The next scheduled gig of Murphy and David J is at the W Festival in Belgium on August 15th.
Here is the full message from The Chapel about the third rescheduling of the Peter Murphy residency, now set to begin on March 5th 2019 (See Full Dates Below):
“IMPORTANT NEWS FROM THE CHAPEL REGARDING PETER MURPHY RESIDENCY
It is with extreme sadness and great disappointment on the part of everyone involved, especially Peter Murphy, that we regrettably have to reschedule his career spanning residency to March 2019.
Since the rescheduling of January and February’s dates due to his Visa being inexplicably delayed in approval, Peter, his team, his immigration attorneys, and The Chapel management have been working continuously to try to secure Peter’s visa, as he has always done with great success over his 40 year career. All parties involved have approached this issue from every possible angle, even receiving substantial assistance from several congressional offices.
Peter’s circumstances have not changed since the granting of his last US visa for the “Stripped” tour of 2016, and as has been seen by anyone who attended his recent festival headlining show in Mexico with David J, Peter is in great voice and the band is sounding better than ever. Peter is so excited to perform this residency of full album shows for his fans and has been preparing and rehearsing now for 18 months. He is sorely disappointed that a further delay will take place, and that his loyal fans and the great many people invested in this project will be put out by this situation once again.
Multiple efforts have been made to leave no stone unturned to try to get to the bottom of what is causing the visa delay and to try to find a way to resolve this, including a recent second application. We have been unable to get information for what has been described as “random administrative processing” and no word on a timeline of when a decision is expected, despite the implications to Peter’s incredible fans and the livelihoods of the many people involved on both the production and venue side.
We eagerly awaited confirmation on the visa and had decided on a deadline of this week, and we held the utmost hope that his visa would be issued and we could give you a positive update. However, although it is still possible that his visa could be issued in time, we feel we have to cut it off now and make this decision.
We fully understand and commiserate with the financial implications for all concerned. The Chapel remains firm in its commitment to Peter to see through this momentous undertaking they conceived together back in December 2016.
We realize this is an extraordinary inconvenience to everyone who holds tickets to these shows, and to have gone through this many changes is completely unprecedented and we cannot apologize enough. We will do anything we can to make either the transfer of tickets to new dates or refunds as easy as possible.
The new dates are listed below. There will be exciting incentives created by Peter for all who hold tickets to make the shows even more unique and special. Also, Peter will soon be announcing worldwide dates for his 40th year Bauhaus anniversary tour with David J, John Andrews, and Marc Slutsky. A personal announcement regarding the residency is also forthcoming.
Ticketfly will be sending out an email on Monday to all ticket holders with more information about the new dates and refunds. Full refunds will be granted to those who seek them, and thank you for bearing with us during this incredibly difficult and frustrating time.
You can reach us at [email protected], or by phone at 415-551-5157 with any equestions you might have.”
PETER MURPHY – The Chapel Residency March 2019
- 3.5 – Should the World Fail to Fall Apart
- 3.8 – Love Hysteria 8pm / Love Hysteria 11pm
- 3.9 -Deep
- 3.10 – Deep
- 3.11 – Deep
- 3.14 – Deep / Love Hysteria encore
- 3.15 – Cascade 8pm / Holy Smoke 11pm
- 3.18 – Stripped
- 3.19 – Dust 7pm / Ninth 10pm
- 3.21 – Mr. Moonlight
- 3.22 – Mr. Moonlight
- 3.23 – Mr Moonlight