The beloved Pub Choir have had to cancel their two upcoming shows in the United States due to "visa woes".
The team behind the initiative - Astrid Jorgensen, Megan Bartholomew, Waveney Yasso, Paris Owen and John Patterson - took to Facebook today to announce the sad news.
"We think we’re pretty upstanding citizens… Pub Choir has sold over 55,000 tickets in Australia this calendar year, and we’ve worked with some of the biggest names and venues in Aus music," the statement on Facebook said.
"We had letters of support from heavy industry players, international acts, and we paid for a verrrry expensive lawyer to put together the best possible visa application! We’re not 100% sure what has happened, and honestly, we think it’s a big ol’ cock up. But the timeline is not in our favour and we can’t risk flying around the globe and being turned away at customs.
To our growing American family, We have sad news. Due to U.S. visa woes, Pub Choir unfortunately has had to cancel our...
Posted by Pub Choir on Thursday, October 3, 2019
"We will be BACK to the US as soooooon as possible. We love ya, we miss ya, we wanna sing with ya. WE HOPE YOU AREN’T TOO MAD AT US. We’re pretty devastated and we WILL make it up to you."
They ended with the hashtag "#putoutyourbeers".
Pub Choir toured the US for the first time in July this year and put together a diary of their trip for The Music. Check it out here.
The US brought into play a number of new regulations that means all visa applicants will be required to hand over social media usernames in June this year. Read more about the changes and how they affect touring musicians here.
The Music has reached out to Pub Choir for further comment.
