U2, Ed Sheeran & Mike Birbiglia Cancel St. Louis Gigs; Bono Asks “Is This 1968?”

U2’s Bono, responding to the cancellation of his band’s concert in St. Louis tonight, says he’s “deeply saddened” by events in the city. Quoting Martin Luther King Jr. – “Human progress never rolls in on the wheels of inevitability” – Bono asks in an Instagram message, “…is this 1968 or 2017?” (See it below).

Musician Ed Sheeran and comic Mike Birbiglia also have postponed weekend gigs in St. Louis.

The U2 concert, originally scheduled for tonight at the city’s Dome at America’s Center, was scuttled this morning by the band and Live Nation amid downtown protests over Friday’s acquittal of former St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley in the shooting death of Anthony Lamar Smith. Smith was black, Stockley is white.

This morning, Live Nation and U2 announced they’d been “informed by the St. Louis Police Department that they are not in a position to provide the standard protection for our audience as would be expected for an event of this size. We have also been informed that local crowd security personnel would not be at full capacity.”

“In light of this information, we cannot in good conscience risk our fans’ safety by proceeding with tonight’s concert. As much as we regret having to cancel, we feel it is the only acceptable course of action in the current environment.”

Later, Bono posted a hand-written Instagram message with a sketch of the St. Louis Arch:

View this post on Instagram

Deeply saddened at what has happened in St. Louis and having to cancel our show tonight….I found myself reading Dr. King’s speech from the National Cathedral and asking myself is this 1968 or 2017? – Bono “Human progress never rolls in on the wheels of inevitability….we are coming to ask America to be true to the huge promissory note that it signed years ago. And we are coming to engage in dramatic nonviolent action, to call attention to the gulf between promise and fulfillment; to make the invisible visible.”

A post shared by U2 (@u2) on Sep 16, 2017 at 12:07pm PDT

Sheeran, the British singer-songwriter and cameo-making Game of Thrones actor, canceled his Sunday night concert at St. Louis’ Scottrade Center over security concerns, and will re-schedule his visit for sometime in 2018.

Comic and Don’t Think Twice actor Mike Birbiglia has postponed his two Saturday night shows at St. Louis’s The Pageant venue to Dec. 10. “FYI St. Louis,” Birbiglia tweeted. “Please by safe.”