The canceled tours of 2022

A new wave of canceled tours has made the news and once again raises alarms about the state of the music industry. The economic and health situation in the world has prevented many bands from touring, forced to cancel shows and left an uncertain future for many.

In recent weeks, the cancellation or postponement of the tours of Ringo Starr and His All Star Band, Imagine Dragons, Wet Leg, Animal Collective, The Avalanches, Rage Against the Machine, Regina Spektor, Santigold, Metronomy, Bauhaus, Anthrax, Spiritualized.

The former Beatle was forced to cancel his North American tour, after recently being diagnosed with Covid-19, while the Imagine Dragons frontman is recovering from a vocal cord injury, which has forced him to cancel his upcoming performances. in Mexico. The injury he suffered Zach de la Rocha on stage has forced to reschedule the current tour of Rage Against The Machinewhich had already been postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Some artists have canceled their tours in 2022 due to cases of Covid-19 that affected musicians or band staff members. There have also been a number of artists such as Justin Bieber, Shawn Mendes, Fender himself, Lil’ Baby y Arlo Parks who canceled their tours to put an emphasis on their mental health. Touring has become unaffordable for many artists: the financial and emotional stress is overwhelming. And after all the effort, the high costs of touring and the economic situation make it difficult to end up with a profit that allows them to survive and finance their next projects.

“It has been a difficult year for us trying to overcome a mountain of obstacles related to Covid and the economy”, was how the members of Animal Collective when they announced last week the cancellation of their European and UK tour. “From inflation, currency devaluation, to inflated shipping and transportation costs, and much, much more, we just couldn’t put together a budget for this tour that wouldn’t lose money even if everything else went well.”

The English band Metronomy was also forced to postpone its presentations in the United States and Canada. “Touring America is one of the most extensive and expensive things a band can do, it’s a very big country and you can easily spend many months and money and only play in a few big cities.” Metronomy will only play one date in Los Angeles and Mexico City.

In April, Little Simzthe award-winning British singer Mercury Prize, canceled its presentations in the United States. “As an independent artist, I pay for everything related to my performances out of my own pocket and doing a month-long tour of the United States would leave me with a huge deficit,” the London rapper wrote.

The costs of inflation have also impacted the concert industry and everyone who has bought a ticket to a concert has felt the impact. Now the artists find themselves with a limited availability of forums because everyone wants to take advantage of the available spaces.

the pandemic of Covid-19 left the music industry devastated and the outlook continues to turn bleak. No tour is important enough to put the physical and mental health of artists first and the economic situation has made many rethink the cost of this industry.

For these artists, the cancellation of their tours is the worst scenario, since many survive only thanks to their live performances and the sale of their original merchandise. Given the few record sales, and the insipid compensation they receive on music platforms, the situation is forcing many artists to rethink their plans to go on tour.

With higher fuel costs, air transportation, rising prices, and the disruptions caused by Covid-19 that are still wreaking havoc, going on a tour is a very unprofitable proposition in 2022.

antonio.becerril@eleconomista.mx