Sarah McLachlan on Wednesday announced the postponement of the upcoming Canadian leg of her tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of her landmark Fumbling Towards Ecstasy album, due to illness.
“I have been so excited to bring this show across Canada and am devastated to make this announcement,” McLachlan said in a post on her social media platforms. “My voice is not recovering, and I need to take this time to heal.”
McLachlan, 56, had been forced to cancel shows within the past week in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut due to what she had described as “acute laryngitis.”
Vancouver singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan discusses preparations for her 30th anniversary Fumbling Towards Ecstasy tour, and recording her first new studio album in about eight years. Correction, May 16, 2024: An earlier version of this video included concert footage from a performer who was not Sarah McLachlan. It has been updated.
The dates were set to begin Friday at Casino Rama near Orillia, Ont., with a dozen more shows scheduled across six other provinces through Nov. 20, ending in Victoria. McLachlan said tickets for the shows would be honoured on new dates that would be announced as soon as possible.
Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, her third studio album, helped raise her profile outside of Canada, led by singles Possession and Hold On. She’s already played dozens of dates on the anniversary tour, beginning in Vancouver on May 23 and then extending into the U.S.
McLachlan admitted to being a “little concerned” about the rigours of her most extensive touring in several years.
“I don’t talk much during the day [on the road], to maintain my voice,” she told CBC’s Gloria Macarenko in an interview in May.
Hall of Fame, other honours
The touring has been part of a busy year for the B.C. singer-songwriter, who was born in Halifax.
In September, she was among the inductees into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. The ceremony saw the singer-songwriter duet on her 1990s hit Angel with Nelly Furtado, while the duo Whitehorse covered Sweet Surrender.
37:33Sarah McLachlan: Fame, stalkers & her biggest hits
Also that month, she was on hand at the Sarah McLachlan School of Music in Vancouver as Canada Post unveiled a stamp in her honour.
In addition, plans for a documentary on Lilith Fair — the trailblazing tour of female artists McLachlan spearheaded in the mid-1990s — were announced.
McLachlan was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2017, and was appointed an officer of the Order of Canada in 1999.