Joe GallopIndie rock group Animal Collective has become the latest artist to cancel an upcoming tour, due to an “economic reality that simply does not work and is not sustainable,” the band said.
They follow artists such as Santigold and Sampa The Great who both cancelled tours due to financial difficulties, as well as Sam Fender who recently pulled his US tour to focus on his mental health.
Animal Collective said in a statement, “From inflation, to currency devaluation, to bloated shipping and transportation costs, and much much more, we simply could not make a budget for this tour that did not lose money even if everything went as well as it could.”
Announcing the cancellation of her European tour, Zambian singer Sampa The Great said, “Tour exhaustion is a real issue, especially for independent artists like who are taking even greater financial risks when touring in this new world.”
American singer Santigold said her US tour was cancelled due to un-recoupable costs and the difficulty of touring post-Covid: “We were met with the height of inflation – gas, tour buses, hotels, and flight costs skyrocketed – many of our tried-and-true venues unavailable due to a flooded market of artists trying to book shows in the same cities, and positive test results constantly halting schedules with devastating financial consequences.
“I’m actually going to elaborate on it more later because I think it’s important for people to know the truth of what it’s like out here for artists and I don’t believe enough of us are talking about it publicly. I’ve seen a couple of articles start to emerge, literally over the past few days, just as I had started writing this letter to you, about musicians cancelling tours, prioritising themselves over the demands of a relentless industry.”
Animal Collective were set to begin their European tour in Limerick, Ireland on 2 November with further dates in Brighton, Bristol, Manchester, Glasgow and London before moving on to Europe. The band’s show at Hackney Church for Pitchfork Music Festival London was one of the dates to be cancelled.