Arlo Parks informed fans over the weekend that she’s taking a break from her current U.S. tour to focus on mental health. The outing that kicked off earlier this month, but, Parks wrote in a length Instagram note that after being on the road on and off for the past 18 months — “filling every spare seconds in between and working myself to the bone” — she reached a breaking point.
“It was exciting and I was eager to grind and show everyone what I was capable of, how grateful I was to be where I am today,” the Mercury Prize winner wrote. “The people around me started to get worried but I was anxious to deliver and afraid to disappoint my fans and myself. I pushed myself to unhealthily, further and harder than I should’ve.”
The results, she continued, is that she now finds herself in a “very dark place, exhausted and dangerously low — it’s painful to admit that my mental health has deteriorated to a debilitating place, that I’m not okay, that I’m a human being with limits.” For that reason, she said, she has cancelled planned shows from Boston (which she was slated to play on Sept. 14), through a Salt Lake City show on Sept. 24.
The tour is now slated to recommence with the Portland, Oregon show at the Crystal Ballroom on Sept. 26. “I don’t take decisions like this lightly but I am broken and I really need to step out, go home and take care of myself,” she explained. “I will do everything I can to make this up to you… I’m forever thankful to everyone who continues to show up for me, what a dream to have fans like you guys.” Refunds are available at point of purchase.
The upcoming affected dates include: Sept. 20 (Minneapolis), Sept. 21 (Milwaukee) and Sept. 23 (Denver). The singer also added two new Texas shows to her revised itinerary, on Oct. 6 gig in Dallas and an Oct. 8 gig in Houston.
See Parks’ post below.
