Pretty Girls Make Graves had to cancel their China tour and Sonic Youth's openers in Beijing got scrapped by the Ministry of Culture.

 

Pitchfork begins:

 

First, there was the soon-to-disband Pretty Girls Make Graves, who had to scrap their whole run of Chinese dates (which would've started last night at Beijing's Mao Live). According to PGMG's label Matador, following some miscommunications with promoters, Pretty Girls were unable to secure work visas in time for the shows. Having nixed their four dates in China, they will continue their farewell tour May 10 in Milwaukee.

 

Their new dates:

 

04-26 Beijing, China - Mao Live
04-27 Hong Kong, China - TBA
04-28 Shanghai, China - 4Live
04-29 Beijing, China - D22

05-10 Milwaukee, WI - Todd Wehr Auditorium *#
05-11 Iowa City, IA - Picador *#
05-12 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle *#
05-13 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop #
05-14 Pittsburgh, PA - Mr. Smalls #
05-16 Philadelphia, PA - North Star Bar *#
05-17 Cambridge, MA - Middle East #
05-18 Providence, RI - Living Room *#
05-19 New York, NY - Gramercy Theatre #
05-20 Washington, DC - Black Cat *#
05-22 Atlanta, GA - Earl *#
05-23 Tampa, FL - Orpheum *#
05-24 Orlando, FL - The Social #
05-26 Baton Rouge, LA - Spanish Moon #
05-27 Denton, TX - Hailey's #
05-28 Austin, TX - Emo's #
05-29 Albuquerque, NM - Launchpad #
05-30 Tempe, AZ - The Clubhouse #
06-02 Pomona, CA - Glasshouse #
06-03 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour #
06-04 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall #
06-09 Seattle, WA - Neumos #

* with Call Me Lightning
# with Moonrats

 

Now, then the story on Sonic Youth:

 

...in Beijing, things got a bit dicey for their hand-picked openers, local power-trio Car-Sick Cars. According to Berwin Song at web publication That's Beijing, China's Ministry of Culture-- the final word on permit-issuance for rock shows-- scrapped the Car-Sick show roughly an hour before showtime, reportedly due to Sonic Youth's involvement in the Free Tibet cause. Sonic Youth's performance went on without incident, and they reportedly threw a shout out to the embattled Cars before their take on "Kool Thing".

 

Here are their dates:

 

04-27 Indio, CA - Empire Polo Field (Coachella)
05-17-20 Brooklyn, NY – No Fun Fest #
06-02 Barcelona, Spain - Parc dèl Forum (Primavera Sound) ^
06-15 Interlaken, Switzerland - Greenfield Festival
06-16 Wiesbaden, Germany - Schlachthof
06-18 St. Petersburg, Russia - Manezh Kadetskogo Korpusa
06-19 Moscow, Russia - B1 Club
06-21 Munich, Germany - Tollwood Festival ^
06-23 Neuhausen, Germany - Southside Festival
06-24 Scheessel, Germany - Hurricane Festival
06-26 Cologne, Germany - E Werk
06-27 Berlin, Germany - Columbia Halle ^
06-29 Gdynia, Poland - Open'er Festival
07-01 Cergy-Pontoise, France - Furia Sound Festival
07-03 Istres, France - La Palio
07-05 Turin, Italy - Spaziale ^
07-06 Ferrara, Italy - Piazza Castello ^
07-07 Rome, Italy - Romano di Ostia Antica ^
07-13 Chicago, IL - Union Park (Pitchfork Music Festival/ATP Don't Look Back) ^
07-19 Berkeley, CA - Berkeley Community Theater ^
07-20 Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theatre ^
08-30 London, England - Roundhouse (ATP Don't Look Back) ^
08-31 London, England - Roundhouse (ATP Don't Look Back) ^
09-01 London, England - Roundhouse (ATP Don't Look Back) ^
09-02 Stradbally, Ireland - Electric Picnic

# Thurston Moore/Jim O'Rourke, Kim Gordon/Yoshimi
^ performing Daydream Nation

 

 

Wow. Note to self: China still fascist.