Progressive rockers Nevermore announced today they will no longer be a part of an upcoming North American tour that is still scheduled to stop Sunday, May 15, at Backstage Live.

"It is with great regret that we notify Nevermore fans that the band has withdrawn from their upcoming North American tour," the band's label, Century Media Records, said in a statement. "The tour will continue as planned with Symphony X, Powerglove and Blackguard. An official statement from the band will be issued soon. Thanks, as always, for supporting Nevermore and Century Media."

Complete tour dates can be found here. Tickets for Symphony X and Co. can be purchased here.

Nevermore played Backstage Live last Oct. 8, a show that was originally scheduled to take place at Scout Bar. But with Scout Bar on suspension that week (and eventually shutting down), the site was switched with less than a week's notice, and roughly 150 people showed up on a Friday night. Still, Nevermore played for nearly and hour and a half (see review with slideshow below) and met with fans afterwards.

Nevermore debuted in 1995, spawned out of the band Sanctuary, whose 1988 debut album Refuge Denied was produced by Megadeth's Dave Mustaine. Singer Warrel Dane and bassist Jim Sheppard have been in both bands from Day 1, while Nevermore guitarist Jeff Loomis was also in Sanctuary's final lineup in 1990. Nevermore and Sanctuary played two shows apiece on the inaugural 70000 Tons of Metal cruise festival from Jan. 24-28 from Miami to Cozumel, Mexico (see links below). They marked Sanctuary's first concerts in 20 years.

Nearly three weeks after the cruise, Sheppard, who played on the ship with Sanctuary but not with Nevermore, underwent surgery for a benign brain tumor. Dagna Silesia, who played previously in Dane's solo band, joined Nevermore on bass on the cruise.

While Nevermore will not be playing Backstage Live anytime soon, German metallers Accept are coming back after all on Friday, May 6, with Sabaton. Accept played the downtown San Antonio venue last Oct. 11, just three days after the Nevermore concert.

Backstage Live has been hailing Accept's return for several months. However, Accept's website not only had a tour stop in Odessa listed for May 6, but no San Antonio show was displayed for roughly the past four months. In fact, Accept's Facebook page still has Odessa listed for that night.

Nuclear Blast Records released a statement on March 15 saying the Backstage Live show was on, but Accept's tour dates on their website were not updated to reflect it until now. Tickets for Accept with Sabaton can be purchased here.

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