Randy Newman Broke His Neck & Is Rescheduling His Tour to Recuperate

[Taylor Swift]

"Could this be payback for having written Short People?" the musician joked in his announcement.

 

Randy Newman

 

Randy Newman is putting his 2022 U.K. and European tour dates on hold after a serious injury. On Wednesday (March 2), the singer-songwriter best known for songs “You’ve Got a Friend in Me,” “Short People” and “I Love L.A.” announced the rescheduling of his upcoming tour due to a broken neck, and is taking time off to recover before hitting the road again.

 

“Recently, I noticed I was shrinking. People over whom I had towered now towered over me. Could this be payback for having written Short People? Turns out, my neck was broken. They operated on me successfully, I think. For even now, I look less like an anteater and more like a folk rock artist from the early sixties,” Newman said in a statement to his official website and Instagram account. “But the doctor said I’m not quite ready to tour. I was really looking forward to coming to Europe to perform. I miss performing a great deal and I look forward to a time when I can come. I’m sorry I won’t see you this time but I will see you soon.”

 

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The tour, officially titled An Evening With Randy Newman, was set to begin in March 2022 and run through June with stops in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, Germany and France. This marks the third postponement of the concert dates. The shows were initially announced in September 2019 and were originally scheduled to commence in 2020, but were pushed to 2022 due to the pandemic. The 78-year-old was also scheduled to bring his concert to Australia and make his first-ever trek to New Zealand, but put a stop to those shows in January 2020 following hip surgery.

“I couldn’t be more sorry, I really couldn’t,” Newman said at the time. “I wanted very much to perform in Australia and New Zealand. I promise I’ll make it up to you. I am especially sorry not to be there in person to express my support for, and love of, Australia during this time of crisis.”

The new statement assured fans that “new dates to be announced as soon as possible,” and promised that current ticketholders will be contacted with additional info about the rescheduled dates in the future. His appearance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival for May 1 remains unconfirmed.

See Newman’s statement in full below.