--- description: The 71-year-old ex-Beatle has failed to recuperate from an unspecified virus, which already has caused him to miss two concerts title: Paul McCartney Cancels Japan Tour image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Paul McCartney Cancels His First Budokan Appearance Since 1966 by [Per Liljas](/author/per-liljas/) ## Per Liljas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 20, 2014 7:21 AM CUT by [Per Liljas](/author/per-liljas/) ## Per Liljas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 20, 2014 7:21 AM CUT Paul McCartney [has canceled](http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/05/20/national/ex-beatle-mccartney-cancels-japan-tour-illness/#.U3rd-1iSwww "undefined") the remainder of his Japanese tour, including a much awaited appearance at Tokyo’s Budokan. The legendary musician has yet to recuperate from an unspecified virus that had already caused him to miss two concerts. “I was really looking forward to playing in Japan again after we had such an amazing time here in November,” McCartney said in a statement, which mentioned that the cancellation was “unavoidable.” The 71-year-old arrived in Japan on the back of a strenuous tour in South America, and had three concerts planned for the coming week. One of them would have been his first appearance on the Budokan stage since the Beatles became the first pop band to play there in 1966 — a set of gigs that led the way for a host of famous Budokan live recordings by the likes of Bob Dylan, Deep Purple and Santana. \[[_AFP_](http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/05/20/national/ex-beatle-mccartney-cancels-japan-tour-illness/#.U3rd-1iSwww "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/105697/paul-mccartney-budokan-cancels-japan-tour/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/105697/paul-mccartney-budokan-cancels-japan-tour/"},"headline":"Paul McCartney Cancels His First Budokan Appearance Since 1966","datePublished":"2014-05-20T07:21:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:56:06.974Z","description":"The 71-year-old ex-Beatle says he was \"really looking forward to playing in Japan again\" but a South American tour has left him feeling unwell","url":"https://time.com/105697/paul-mccartney-budokan-cancels-japan-tour/","keywords":["Music","Japan","Paul McCartney","The Beatles"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Per Liljas","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/per-liljas/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/105697/paul-mccartney-budokan-cancels-japan-tour/","name":"Paul McCartney Cancels His First Budokan Appearance Since 1966"}}]}] ```