TAEMIN Forced to Pull Plug on Entire North American Tour Due to Visa Issues: ‘No Clear Timeline For Issuance’
Billboard ·
The former SHINee singer and solo star cited "continued uncertainty" around the participation of "essential personnel" on the tour.
K-pop star TAEMIN has been forced to cancel the entire North American run of his TAEMIN WORLD TOUR <LiMiNaL> due to reported visa issues. In a statement posted on X earlier this week, the solo star and former member of boy band SHINee explained, “Due to ongoing uncertainty surrounding U.S. visa and related administrative processes affecting key touring and production personnel, we have made the difficult decision to postpone the scheduled North American dates of the 2026-27 TAEMIN WORLD TOUR <LiMiNaL>.”
The 33-year-old singer added that a “significant number” of key touring and production staff hired for the North American tour were still awaiting their travel visas, with “no clear timeline for issuance. Given the continued uncertainty surrounding the participation of essential personnel, we determined that proceeding with the tour as scheduled would carry significant operational and production risks.”
He promised that the North American leg of his world tour remains an “integral part” of the outing and assured fans he will announce rescheduled shows soon. In the meantime, refunds for the originally scheduled North American shows will be available upon request from the original point of purchase.
“We sincerely apologize to everyone who has been looking forward to the shows and appreciate your understanding,” he wrote. “We look forward to sharing the new North American tour dates with you soon.”
The six-city tour was slated to open on Oct. 12 at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif. before hitting Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Grand Prairie, Texas, Chicago and Newark, N.J.
The dates were slated to support TAEMIN’s August EP Phase 1: SOFT VIOLENCE , which dropped four months after he made his Coachella debut with the first-ever solo set by a male Korean artist at the festival.
Under the second Trump administration a number of international artists have faced long delays in obtaining visas and last-minute revocations by the State Department. Recent examples include Canadian indie rockers The New Pornographers , FKA Twigs , Australian artist Keli Holiday (Adam Hyde), and norteño artist Julión Álvarez .