It was recently announced that Sons Of Apollo - former Dream Theater members Mike Portnoy and Derek Sherinian, Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal (ex-Guns N’ Roses), Billy Sheehan (The Winery Dogs, Mr. Big, David Lee Roth) and Jeff Scott Soto (ex-Journey, ex-Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force) – have postponed the remainder of their European tour due to ongoing concerns over the spread of the coronavirus.

The band issued the following statement:

“Sons Of Apollo are absolutely devastated to announce that we have no choice but to stop our currently ongoing tour in Europe, Russia and Ukraine and postpone the remaining concerts.

“The Coronavirus epidemic has escalated to a point where governments have decided to shut down venues, restrict events, limit flight destinations, with no certainty for us and our promoting partners and that our shows can be guaranteed to happen.

“Obviously these European wide emergency precautions have been taken to protect the safety and health of all fans in attendance and artists and crew alike. We do agree that this is a time where health comes first and we will not endanger band & crew, nor fans.

“Furthermore, on top of the potential health implications and obstacles, the economical impact and potential financial risk for a tour from overseas like ours has forced us, to take action to limit the possibility of devastating financial losses in such a force majeure situation.

“Nobody is more disappointed than we are in this moment...We are really looking forward to playing each and every show once the situation has cleared, as the momentum and excitement we experienced at our 2 sold out opening nights in Germany and our shows in Norway and Sweden have been by far the best the band has ever experienced!

“We will ABSOLUTELY be rescheduling these dates as soon as it is safely possible to return. Details of honoring existing tickets and refunds will be announced locally. Procedures for existing VIP package holders will be announced on SOA website and our social media

“Thank you for your understanding and we see you as soon as we possibly can!”

Portnoy has since followed up the announcement with a Facebook post defending the band's decision:

"As I've seen several people post that they think the Corona Virus is all hype and overblown and not understanding our (or other band's) tour cancellations...here's my $0.02 for what it's worth (as a touring musician, not a scientist!):

"I can tell you first hand as we were in EU as all this unfolded:

*Perhaps* the hysteria and paranoia *may* be an over reaction...?? (I can't honestly say as I'm not a scientist) However, because the *fear* is absolutely real, there's no way a band can stay on tour over there and just sit around waiting to find out if their shows are happening from day to day...

There are salaries to pay, buses and hotels to pay for...and losing all show income is an absolute disaster. By us pulling our tour, postponing shows and coming home, we are already taking a *massive* financial hit... But if we stayed and continued to juggle our schedule from day to day, our financial losses would've easily been in the 6-digit figures. And of course this is just talking about finances; it also is not worth taking a chance of catching anything, or being stuck there and not being allowed back into the US because of the countries we already played in

So whether the spread and threat of the virus is real or not, the reality of how it's being *feared* is absolutely real and we had no choice but to react accordingly and in the smartest way possible both financially and physically"