Dirty Projectors Van Accident Forces Cancellations

Experimental outfit Dirty Projectors were involved in an auto accident on Tuesday and have canceled their Toronto and Montreal tour dates. The band will return to New York to recover.

The band were to appear at Toronto's Lee's Palace on Wednesday and Montreal's Theatre Plaza on Thursday. It's not known whether the dates will be rescheduled, but ticket refunds are available at point of purchase.

Here's the official statement from the Brooklyn indie rockers:

"Dirty Projectors' van flipped outside of Detroit, MI on their way up to Toronto. Although the crash was serious, we're happy to report that all members of the band have been safely discharged from the hospital.

"The band will be flying home to New York in the morning [June 24] to regroup and rest. Unfortunately, the band will have to cancel Toronto and Montreal. Thank you for understanding and sending your well wishes."

The band wrote a Myspace blog entry on Wednesday, which provided a few more details:

"We are all pretty much fine — all walking and talking and all of that — just a little sore and a little shaken. "

"After stopping at a fruit stand at about 3pm today [June 23], we got back on the highway headed towards Toronto. At about 3:15, on the other side of the highway, a semi-truck moved into the left lane, not seeing the car that was there, and sent the car flying out of control over the meridian and right at us.

"The car hit us in the back and sent us flying onto our side, at which point we slid quite a ways down the road. Everyone was wearing a seatbelt except for Dave and Brian, but they and all of the rest of us luckily came out fine!

"The whole thing was quite surreal; there were hugs and tears when we climbed out of the van," the blog continues. "We all feel very fortunate right now to be walking around.

"Sorry about the canceled shows in Toronto and Montreal! We were really looking forward to coming up there again, but we will make it up to you as soon as possible!

"Thank you for your concern and support. Looking forward to getting back out there and continuing to share music with our fans."

Dirty Projectors are scheduled to play the following dates in support of their latest album, Bitte Orca, which was released earlier this month:

July 2 Vancouver, BC @ Richard's On Richards
July 3 Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey
July 4 Portland, OR @ Holocene
July 7 San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
July 8 Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour
July 9 San Diego, CA @ Casbah
July 19 Brooklyn, NY @ Williamsburg Waterfront
Aug. 15 Oslo, Norway @ Oyafestivalen
Sept. 9 Paris, France @ Maroquinerie
Sept. 11 Dorset, England @ Lamer Tree Gardens (End Of The Road Festival)
Sept. 12 Newport, England @ Robin Hill Countryside Adventure Park (Bestival)
Sept. 13 London, England @ La Scala
Sept. 16 Dublin, Ireland @ Whelan's
Sept. 19 Brussels, Belgium @ Botanique
Sept. 20 Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Melkweg
Sept. 21 Berlin, Germany @ Kreuzberg Festival
Sept. 25 Toulouse, France @ Le Printemps de Septembre Festival