Foo Fighters cancel Van Tour 2020 due to COVID-19

10 August 2020, 10:30 | Updated: 10 August 2020, 10:45

Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters performs onstage at the 62nd Annual GRAMMY Awards — Dave Grohl and co have cancelled their mini tour, which would have seen them revisit their 1995 live dates. Picture: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

Dave Grohl and co were set to embark on special dates to celebrate their 25th anniversary together, but were forced to cancel them due to the pandemic.

Foo Fighters have cancelled their Van Tour due to COVID-19.

The Learn To Fly rockers were due to celebrate 25 years together this year by taking a trip down memory lane and revisiting stops along their 1995 tour, but have had to pull their dates due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking about the special gigs, which would have seen Dave Grohl and co perform in the round at the likes of Cleveland, Ohio and Albuquerque, New Mexico, they wrote: "Foo Fighters have cancelled the Van Tour 2020. All shows listed below will be automatically refunded. For further information, please visit your point of purchase. We look forward to seeing you all as soon as it is sage for everyone to do so."

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Important information about the Van Tour 2020.

A post shared by Foo Fighters (@foofighters) on Aug 7, 2020 at 7:01am PDT

The band's cancelled dates come after their frontman Grohl penned a powerful essay in support of teachers and keeping schools closed amid the pandemic.

The piece - entitled In Defense of Our Teachers - saw him commend those in the profession, while also sharing his own relationship to education.

Grohl began his piece - which was published by The Atlantic - with the admission of not being terribly studious himself, writing: "I hate to break it to you, but I was a terrible student.

"Each day, I desperately waited for the final bell to ring so that I could be released from the confines of my stuffy, windowless classroom and run home to my guitar."

The 51-year-old rocker went on to talk about his public school teacher mother Virginia, who he referred to as his favourite teacher despite never actually being her student.

Ending his piece on a poignant and powerful note, he concluded: "Teachers want to teach, not die, and we should support and protect them like the national treasures that they are.

"For without them, where would we be? May we show these tireless altruists a little altruism in return. I would for my favorite teacher. Wouldn’t you?"