The band believes the financial risk is too high and cancels the tour with 16 venues.
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The cancellation became clear when the band posted a message on their Facebook page.
Dear ones! It is with a heavy heart that we must announce today that we are also throwing ourselves into the big wave of cancellations and postponements of concerts in March.
There is too much financial risk in implementing it. We had hoped that there was plenty of time to sell more tickets after the reopening, but it does not look so good. We are still in a pandemic with high infection rates and it does not seem as if most people are completely ready for concerts yet. The concert venues we talk to report that this does not only apply to our concerts, but to the vast majority who are going on a trip in March / April.
The band has just released their tenth album, “Ten”, and had planned a solid trip around the country. Like many other artists, there has been minimal playing in the last two years. Now the country has reopened, and apart from “stay home when you are sick”, there are virtually no coronary restrictions left.
Sitting on the fence
This does not mean that cultural life is fresh. As Aftenbladet has previously written, people do not necessarily stand and claw at the doors of the concert organizers. A number of concert venues and cultural organizers are still struggling with poor ticket sales. The Ministry of Culture and Gender Equality has informed the cultural actors that events held after 12 February will not receive incentive money.
Earlier this week, Minister of Culture Anette Trettebergstuen was able to present a new package of measures aimed at the field of popular music.
- NOK 30 million to the Norwegian Cultural Fund
- 11 mill. kroner to Music Norway
- NOK 10 million to the Fund for Sound and Vision
- NOK 5 million to the Fund for Performing Artists
- NOK 3 million to the Dance and Theater Center
It helps little for bands like Skambankt as long as ticket buyers in Volda, Ålesund and Trondheim stay on the fence.
Will not end up in debt
Skambankt writes this about his cancellation:
A tour is mainly what compensates us for months of album work and keeps us alive while it lasts. It compensates the record company for investments in albums and pays the booking company for a big job of setting up the tour. We have large expenses with this type of tour and we do not want to get into debt.
Many are affected. We sympathize with our dear crew, Lüt (who has invested in airline tickets and looked forward to warming up) bus companies, our wonderful booking, organizers, local crew and other venue staff.
Unfortunately, there were no appropriate support schemes for this transitional phase, and we are left with lost income, expenses, disappointment and the anticlimax of all time.
For Skambankt’s part, the next target is autumn 2022. They write that they are working on moving concerts from March / April to the other side of the summer.
