Rapper Giggs' UK tour cancelled over police concerns
Rapper Giggs' UK tour cancelled over police concerns
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Tuesday, 23, Feb 2010 10:02
By Lewis Bazley.
Up-and-coming rapper Giggs has had his ten-date UK tour cancelled after the Metropolitan police expressed uncertainty about the safety of its London leg.
The Peckham rhymesmith, named in the BBC's Sound of 2010 longlist, was due to begin his tour in Birmingham on Wednesday February 23rd but the dates have been pulled after a consulation between the Metropolitan police and the promoters of Giggs' planned show at London's Islington Academy.
A Metropolitan police spokesperson said: "Police advised that there were concerns about potential risk to the event, if it took place.
"It is routine for police to work with licensed venues on a regular basis to identify and manage risk assessments for upcoming performances but the decision to cancel an event is a matter for the venue itself."
Giggs, who was due to perform in Birmingham, Norwich, Leeds, London, Cardiff, Glasgow, Nottingham, Leeds, Cambridge and Manchester, was sanguine over the tour's cancellation though he implied police had told venues his gigs represented a safety risk.
"This is how it's been from the beginning, it's just that everyone is hearing about it now," he told BBC 1Xtra News. "Before it used to be low key, people didn't really believe me.
"I just want to thank the police for all this great promotion that they're giving me, all these cancellations and that is just making me more powerful."
In response, the Met told the BBC: "We routinely exchange intelligence and information with other police forces but any police decision to advise a venue about a planned event would be taken at a local level."