U2 Cancels St. Louis Concert Citing Security Concerns

U2, which was scheduled to perform Saturday evening in St. Louis, has canceled the show. The band - in a joint statement with promoter Live Nation - cited security concerns.

"We have been informed by the St. Louis Police Department that they are not in a position to provide the standard protection for our audience as would be expected for an event of this size," the statement said. "We have also been informed that local crowd security personnel would not be at full capacity.

"In light of this information, we cannot in good conscience risk our fans’ safety by proceeding with tonight’s concert. As much as we regret having to cancel, we feel it is the only acceptable course of action in the current environment."

The city has been rocked by protests since Friday when a white police officer was acquitted in the 2011 shooting death of a black man following a high speed chase.

While the protests started out peacefully, they turned violent with rocks and bottled being thrown at officers and businesses being damaged.

An American flag was burned on the lawn of Mayor Krewson's house.

"Is this 1968 or 2017," Bono wrote on Instagram, saying that the actions have found himself thinking about Martin Luther King's speech at the National Cathedral.

He quotes from the speech.

"Human progress never rolls in on the wheels of inevitability….we are coming to ask America to be true to the huge promissory note that it signed years ago. And we are coming to engage in dramatic nonviolent action, to call attention to the gulf between promise and fulfillment; to make the invisible visible.”

Fans who purchased tickets online will receive a refund on the credit card tickets were ordered on. Refunds for non-internet purchases will be available starting Monday at 10am at point of purchase.

File photo of Bono singing at the Superdome in New Orleans in 2006 via Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images Sports/Getty Images