Changes: Neil Young, Ting Tings

Neil Young postpones benefit concert slated for Edmonton, Alberta … Medical issue forces the Tings Tings to cancel U.S. tour scheduled to launch this week.

Photo: Austin American-Statesman, Jay Janner/AP

Delivering his keynote address at SXSW in Austin, Texas.

Fans holding tickets for Neil Young’s July 3 concert at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alberta, will need to find something else to do that evening. Various media reports coming out of Canada indicate Young has postponed the Honour The Treaties benefit.

Not much is known as to why Young postponed the concert. The Edmonton Journal says that the rocker has been a “vocal supporter of Athabasca Chipewyan Frist Nations’ fight against oil sands development in Alberta” and notes that he has held similar concerts across Canada. According to The Indian Country Today Media Network, those concerts were in opposition to the “extraction of bituminous crude from the Alberta oil sands.”

Young did issue a statement announcing the postponement but did not delve into details.

“I am sad to say that I must postpone the July 3 Honour The Treaties concert at Edmonton’s Rexall Place in support of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nations legal defence,” the statement read. “The Honour The Treaties Tour will be rescheduled and new dates will be announced in the very near future.”

A notice on Ticketmaster says fans who purchased tickets online or over the phone will receive automatic refunds while folks who went the brick-&-mortar route will need to seek refunds at points of purchase.

You can forget about seeing The Ting Tings’ first night on the road scheduled to happen in Berwyn, Ill., tomorrow night. You can also forget about Friday in Indianapolis. Oh, and fans in Birmingham, Ala., might want to check the TV listings for Sunday evening. Turns out the duo featuring guitarist/singer Katie White and drummer/guitarist/keyboardist Jules De Martino has canceled its U.S. tour.

Photo: John Davisson

SXSW, Austin, TX

The abrupt change of plans is due to White’s partially ruptured tendon in her left hand. Doctors have ordered her to give her south paw a rest.

“Really sorry to be cancelling our U.S. tour,” White said. “My left hand has been playing me up for a while and unfortunately, it finally decided to throw a tendon tantrum. We tried to scale back the upcoming shows to avoid making it worse, but unfortunately, I have a torn tendon that the doctors have said only rest and physiotherapy will heal … back soon.”

Running through July 26, the tour was to include stops in Colorado Springs, San Francisco, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Los Angeles and Kansas City.

Like Neil Young’s postponed Edmonton date, people who purchased tickets on the internet or over the phone will be automatically refunded while folks who purchased at real-world outlets must seek refunds at points of purchase.