War Spooks Rockers

Usually impossible to shut up, musicians are voluntarily turning down the volume, postponing international tours while the U.S. is at war.

Tom Petty, Kelly Rowland and B2K are just the latest in a long list of rockers, including Matchbox Twenty, Tenacious D and Lisa Marie Presley, who've altered their concert plans due to the ongoing conflict in Iraq. Instead, the performers have chosen to stick close to home and have taken a watch-and-see attitude toward touring before hitting the road again.

Fresh from the success of her duet with Nelly on "Dilemma," Rowland was scheduled to kickoff a month-long 21-city European tour in Sweden on Saturday to promote her new album Simply Deep. But after talks with the State Department, Rowland's manager (Beyoncé's daddy, Matthew Knowles) rescheduled her appearances for September and October.

"I've always really enjoyed performing for audiences in Europe with Destiny's Child and am saddened at having to postpone my concert tour," Rowland said in a written statement released Wednesday. "It was very hard to postpone these shows because of all the love I feel for the fans. I look forward to re-scheduling my shows and am praying for quick end to the fighting and for all humanity to live in a truly peaceful world," added the booty-licious singer.

Many, including Matchbox Twenty, who had been due to hit the road March 25, cited last week's State Department travel advisory as a reason for caution. The announcement warned Americans traveling abroad that "As a result of military action in Iraq, there is a potential for retaliatory actions to be taken against U.S. citizens and interests throughout the world" in "facilities where Americans and other foreigners congregate" such as clubs, concert halls and restaurants.

Matchbox's frontman Rob Thomas voiced his safety concerns on the band's official Website, not only for the band and crew "but, more importantly, for the well-being of our fans, whom we certainly do not want to put at risk just by coming out to see us play," he wrote. "As global citizens, not just Americans, we also feel that it would be inappropriate to be doing gigs just as this conflict has begun." The tour is slated to resume in September.

Also nixing her Euro-itinerary is Lisa Marie Presley, who just kicked off a U.S. promotional tour for her new album, To Whom It May Concern, while on Monday, Tom Petty canceled the Heartbreakers' first European tour in more than a decade, previously scheduled to kick off in the U.K. on July 3. "The decision was made after consultation with the European promoters," reads a post on the band's official Website, noting that all dates would be rescheduled.

Closer to home, concerned family members bumped B2K's New York City-bound travel plans, while the self-anointed world's greatest rock band, Tenacious D, cut short their European tour to get home, canceling an appearance on Swedish television's Later with Luuk Show on March 19 after war broke out. A statement on the band's official Website thanks the show's producer and staff for their support and understanding. "The D apologize to their fans in Sweden for this cancelation, but they promise to make this up to them in the future!"

Staying the course overseas are the Red Hot Chili Peppers, scheduled to play in Stockholm on Saturday, while the Donnas, Pitchshifter, 3 Doors Down and Avril Lavigne (who's Canadian) have all decided the show must go on for European audiences.

Meanwhile, two Wu-Tang Clan associates, Cappadonna and Remedy, are sticking to their travel plans. The duo plan to travel to Israel in May, where they'll perform in five cities including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. "As Americans and hip-hop artists we want to show solidarity with the people of Israel," Cappadonna said in a statement released on Tuesday.

Despite the inherent danger in traveling to the Middle East at this time, the rappers say the journey is necessary to maintain the flow of communication. "No one thinks that a Hebrew-speaking country has anything to do with hip-hop," Cappadonna said, "but hip-hop is alive in Israel, and we are going there to foster the new generations' way of communicating."