{"id":696927,"date":"2026-07-17T16:32:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T16:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/696927\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T16:32:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T16:32:12","slug":"gojira-drummer-mario-pulls-out-of-us-tour-due-to-visa-issues-replaced-with-man-named-luigi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/696927\/","title":{"rendered":"Gojira drummer Mario pulls out of US tour due to “visa issues” \u2013 replaced with man named Luigi"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gojira<\/a> have announced that drummer Mario Duplantier will be unable to join them for their US festival dates due to \u201cvisa issues\u201d, and confirmed that another drummer named Luigi will be temporarily joining as a replacement.<\/p>\n

The French metal icons made the announcement on social media earlier this week, just days before they were set to perform at Rock Fest in Wisconsin last night (Thursday July 16).<\/p>\n

According to the update, the drummer was still \u201cdealing with an immigration issue\u201d which had \u201cmade it impossible for him to travel to the US in time for our shows\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMario is heartbroken not to be here with us and has fought hard every step of the way to find a solution,\u201d they added, before saying that the shows would still be going ahead as planned as they had enlisted Paleface Swiss\u2019 drummer to step in at the last minute.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re so grateful for the incredible Luigi Paraventi of Paleface Swiss, who has stepped in on short notice,\u201d the post went on.<\/p>\n

With a nod to Mario and Luigi being brothers from the iconic Nintendo game franchise, they added: \u201cPlayer two has entered the game \u2014 RESPECT. We can\u2019t wait to see you all out there!!\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the set in Wisconsin last night, Gojira are now set to take to the stage at Upheaval Festival in Michigan tonight (Friday July 17), followed by a set at the Inkcarceration Music & Tattoo Festival in Ohio tomorrow (Saturday July 18).<\/p>\n

All dates come following their recent run of UK and European tour dates supporting Metallica<\/a>, which wrapped up with two nights at London Stadium earlier this month<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gojira aren\u2019t the only artists to have their US live shows affected by visa issues lately either. Back in May Enter Shikari<\/a> told fans that they had been forced to scrap their entire North American tour due to similar issues, and in 2025 FKA Twigs<\/a> cancelled all of her US \u2018EUSEXUA\u2019 tour dates for the same reason<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gojira haven\u2019t released an album since 2021\u2019s \u2018Fortitude<\/a>\u2019, although they have dropped two standalone singles since then: 2022\u2019s \u2018Our Time Is Now\u2019 and 2024\u2019s \u2018Mea Culpa (Ah! \u00c7a ira!)\u2019 which they performed at that year\u2019s Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gojira have announced that drummer Mario Duplantier will be unable to join them for their US festival dates…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":696928,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,5204,128,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-696927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-metal","tag-music","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=696927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/696928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}