Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks cancels all 2021 performances owing to Covid-19

The now-solo singer was due to take the stage at five coming music festivals

Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks has cancelled a number of performances owing to Covid-19. AP

Stevie Nicks has cancelled five scheduled performances at music festivals throughout the year, citing coronavirus concerns, she said on Tuesday.

Nicks had been scheduled to headline one day each of BottleRock Napa Valley in California and the Jazz Aspen Snowmass in Colorado in September. In October, she was also scheduled to play two days of the Austin City Limits Music Festival and one day of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

The dates were all the shows she had planned for 2021.

“These are challenging times with challenging decisions that have to be made. I want everyone to be safe and healthy and the rising Covid cases should be of concern to all of us,” the singer, 73, said.

“While I’m vaccinated, at my age, I am still being extremely cautious and for that reason have decided to skip the five performances I had planned for 2021.”

Most of the festivals are moving forward with replacement headliners. Country star Chris Stapleton will take Nicks’s place at BottleRock Napa Valley.

“Because singing and performing have been my whole life, my primary goal is to keep healthy so I can continue singing for the next decade or longer,” Nicks said. “I’m devastated and I know the fans are disappointed, but we will look towards a brighter 2022.”

New Orleans festival cancelled again owing to Covid-19

Nicks was due to play at New Orleans JazzFest, but with new Covid-19 cases surging in Louisiana, the festival won’t be returning in 2021, organisers said on Sunday.

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, which is traditionally held in the spring, had been scheduled to run from Friday to Sunday, October 8 to 10, and Friday to Sunday, October 15 to 17, this year after being cancelled in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

But organisers cited “current exponential growth” of new Covid-19 cases in the city and region, as well as an ongoing public health emergency, in announcing that the festival will not occur as planned.

“We now look forward to next spring, when we will present the festival during its traditional time frame,” organisers said in a news release. Next year’s dates are Friday, April 29 to Sunday, May 8.

JazzFest celebrates the indigenous music and culture of New Orleans and Louisiana. The music encompasses nearly every style imaginable: blues, RnB, gospel, Cajun, zydeco, Afro-Caribbean, folk, Latin, rock, rap, contemporary and traditional jazz, country, bluegrass and everything in between. It’s held at the Fair Grounds Race Course, where several stages are erected for fans to gather in and around.