George Michael cancels Australian tour

Pop singer George Michael has unexpectedly pulled the plug on his scheduled tours of Australia due to feelings of major 'anxiety'.

Although George Michael is currently undertaking a tour of most of the world's major concert venues, the former Wham! singer has cancelled all of his tour dates in Australia, as The Guardian reports. In all, nine dates from his Symphonica tour have been shelved. According to a statement issued on his website, Michael says that the cancellation "breaks my heart". The reason stated is "major anxiety", which the singer links to the aftermath of his serious bout of pneumonia in 2011, where the singer was hospitalized in Vienna for several weeks. The singer goes on further in his statement: "I have tried in vain to work my way through the trauma that the doctors who saved my life warned me I would experience. They recommended complete rest and the type of post-traumatic counseling which is available in cases like mine but I'm afraid I believed (wrongly) that making music and getting out there to perform for the audiences that bring me such joy would be therapy enough in itself." According to the BBC, the cancelled concerts were due to take place in Perth, Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and the Hunter Valley.