Animal Collective cancel UK and European tour
American experimental pop legends Animal Collective have cancelled their scheduled UK/European tour due to economic difficulties and the toll this is taking on their mental and physical health. The band were set to embark on the run in Ireland on November 2nd and hit locations such as Manchester, Glasgow and London before they headed to Europe.
However, yesterday night (October 10th), the group, comprised of Avey Tare, Panda Bear, Geologist and Deakin, announced that all tour dates have been cancelled with a lengthy statement posted on their Instagram.
It started: “Friends, we are absolutely gutted to announce today that we are making the decision to cancel our UK/EU dates for this November. We love playing music for you and truly wish we could be there.”
“It has been a wild year for us trying to push through a mountain of touring obstacles related to COVID and the economy. Three of us got bad cases of Covid. We were forced to cancel shows and lost large amounts of the income that sustains us and our families. But preparing for this tour we were looking at an economic reality that simply does not work and is not sustainable,” it continued.
The statement explained: “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. We have always been the kind of people to persevere through the difficult times and get on stage unless our health prevented it. We are choosing not to take the risk to our mental and physical health with the economic reality of what that tour would have been. We hope you understand and that you know we would not make a choice like this lightly.”
The band did caveat their regretful news by maintaining that they look forward to playing overseas one day soon and told fans that they will be refunded at the point of purchase.
Animal Collective are just the latest act to cancel their tour, following the likes of Santigold and Sam Fender, with mental health and economic pressure mounting for artists.
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