Singer-songwriter Amanda Palmer is cancelling her upcoming tour to be with a cancer-stricken friend.

The performer who was scheduled to come to New Zealand for two shows in late January took to her blog today to explain the decision to her fans.

"I'm cancelling the upcoming year of touring so that I can stay with my friend Anthony while he faces cancer treatment and whatever else is about to happen," she said.

"This is really, really hard for me to tell you. I feel like i'm letting a lot of people down."

She wrote in almost 13 years of touring, she almost never cancelled a single engagement and she was taking her professional commitments really seriously. But she also took her friendships seriously, and the situation called for no other solution. "My best friend is really sick and his future is uncertain. So I am going to stay with him while he goes through this."

Palmer who raised more than US$1 million earlier this year to record her latest album, also posted a video of her friend Anthony Martignetti at a book launch.

"There is a video of Anthony reading from his book of stories, "lunatic heroes", at his book launch the other week, the one me and Neil performed at.

"I think if you listen to this whole story, you'll understand something about him, and about me, and about why he is so important to me. It's not safe for work....in that it's long, 25 minutes, and it's very emotional. I find a hard time listening to it without crying."

She said her team was working on rescheduling the dates for later in the year, eying around September or October 2013. Already bought tickets would still be valid for the new dates, refunds would be available for the Wellington show at Ticketmaster and the Auckland show at Q Theatre.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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