Sports Team have cancelled some of their European dates due to not being able to “justify” the financial risks associated with putting on shows.
The band, who were meant to tour in European cities including Oslo, Berlin, Barcelona and Copenhagen this autumn, said that they will have to postpone some of these shows.
Announcing the news on Instagram, they shared that this is something that goes against “everything” they want to do, and apologised to fans for the impact of this decision.
“Cancelling shows goes against everything we want to do,” the statement said. “We’re a band because we love playing live. We once drove 24 hours through the night from London to get to a show in Munich. There were 12 people there and the next day we drove back to Birmingham for the next show. Nobody slept. Most of us cried. It was hell. I’d do it again tomorrow.
“We’ve done plenty of shows that haven’t made money. Touring as a six piece band is an extremely stupid business model. Normally we’re able to make things work, this time we couldn’t justify the financial risk.”
Sports Team confirmed they will still play Here’s The Thing Festival, Madrid, Paris and Antwerp, but said the “rest will have to come later”. All UK tour dates are scheduled to go ahead as planned.
Read the full statement below.
Sports Team are not the only band to have cancelled due to financial concerns. In July, Irish band The Murder Capital also cancelled the US and Canadian leg of their tour due to “unforeseen financial challenges” and uncertainty.
This, they explained, was due to financial struggles and uncertainties around travel. No replacement dates were scheduled.
“With heavy hearts, we have to cancel our tour this autumn due to unforeseen financial challenges and the ongoing travel uncertainties,” their statement read on social media. “This is a bitter pill to swallow. We hope you know how much we wanted to be out there playing these shows for ye all.”
It comes as the number of artists touring across the UK and abroad has fallen by as much as 74 per cent compared to pre-pandemic figures. The country’s music scene continues to face the “complete collapse” of touring with huge areas going without live music, one venue closing every two weeks, and the uphill struggle for artists affording to exist, let alone play live.
A proposed £1 levy on gigs at arena level and above – designed to feed back into the grassroots for artists and promoters as well as venues and festivals – continues to gather steam, but debate surrounds its speed and where the pressure should be applied for more action.
In March, indie band Los Campesinos! broke down the “financial restrictions” of touring and revealed a significant “loss” from a one-off show in Dublin. In a post to their website, they showed a full financial breakdown of what it takes to put on a show.
This included a showing of the money made from show fees and merch sales, as well as outgoings including travel, haulage, accommodation, crew wages and essentials such as food. In total, for the one-off gig that the band played at Dublin venue the Button Factory, they earned £6,151.59. However, they spent £7,863.88, resulting in a total loss of £1,712.29.
Back in May, Wolf Alice‘s Joff Oddie joined industry leaders at a government hearing into the state of UK grassroots music, where it was warned that not enough progress was being made in saving venues and new artists.
Last year, DJ Shadow shared his thoughts on the current touring crisis, saying the industry is close to “extinction”.
Additionally, back in 2022, various figures from the UK music industry spoke to NME about how the first summer of post-pandemic touring revealed that the complications of Brexit were “strangling the next generation of UK talent in the cradle”.
NME gave Sports Team’s latest album ‘Boys These Days’ four stars in a review. It commended its fun-spirited approach to tackling toxic masculinity, and by giving a distinct sound to the band.
“On ‘Boys These Days’, Sports Team flip the narrative of an increasingly stark, divided world to embrace the childlike side of human nature, staying true to that foundational principle of the band,” it read.
“Sonically, it’s a step up from the guitar-driven mayhem that characterised their roots, without just slapping some synths on top like many of their indie counterparts. In reality, they’ve never sounded closer to that wacky, eccentric live band down your local on a Friday night – and maybe that’s where their truest form lies.”