Darren Hayes Cancels Gold Coast Show
Image: Darren Hayes at the 2022 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
In a candid letter to his fans, Darren Hayes announced that he was cancelling the Gold Coast show in his upcoming ‘Do You Remember’ Australia tour.
Hayes explained that the change was necessitated as his shows hadn’t sold enough tickets overall to break even.
In October 2022, the former Savage Garden frontman, released Homosexual, his first new album in 10 years, and announced that he was set to tour Australia in January and February 2023. Last week, he said that pop duo Bachelor Girl would join him on the tour.
Financial And Logistical Nightmare
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In an Instagram post on Wednesday, Hayes, 50, said that the upcoming tour has been hit by a “financial and logistical nightmare” that had affected the live concert industry due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Although my team and I agonized over the best way to try to make the numbers work, it became clear that although my promoter was ambitious in booking me into so many venues and large spaces, we simply hadn’t sold enough tickets overall to break even and that was putting the entire Australian leg of the tour in jeopardy unless we made some changes,” said Hayes.
The singer revealed that there was a suggestion to cancel several cities or postpone the Australian tour altogether, but he had refused to do so. His Australia tour will go ahead, including shows in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Broadmeadow and Perth.
“People are flying in from all over the world to come to this tour and I couldn’t live with myself if I caused that kind of chaos to their lives,” said Hayes. “Usually when something like this happens, an artist will put out a polite, vague excuse like ’scheduling conflicts’ or ‘unforeseen circumstances’ but I have too much respect for you to do that. I’ve always been truthful and this is the reality of the music industry in 2022.”
Strange Time To be Touring
Hayes explained that while he was adding dates for the US and UK leg of his tour to meet demand, but had faced the opposite problem in Australia.
“It’s a strange time to be touring. Covid seems to have affected touring markets in different ways. In the UK we had to add six more shows. Similarly in the USA, I’m about to add four more dates. For whatever reason, this is the situation in Australia for many artists and we all have to evolve and adapt to these changing times.”
Hayes, who is from Brisbane, Queensland, said it pained him to cancel the Gold Coast show. “It pains me to have to disappoint anyone, especially those in my home state… I hope you know we are working night and day to put on the best possible show. Bringing this music to you, live, after being away so long, is a dream come true and a dream worth fighting for.”
Fans and other artists commended Hayes for being honest and upfront about the reason for cancelling the show. “We’re all going through it. Cheers for the honest approach,” Australian musician and actor Ben Lee responded to Hayes’ post.
Singer and songwriter Katie Noonan agreed. “Thank you for being so bravely honest. Heaps of friends have had to cancel shows due to ‘unforeseen circumstances’ here in Oz and the sad reality is that Australian audiences are not buying tickets to Australian shows… especially in Queensland and Western Australia…. sales are generally at about 50-60% of pre-Covid figures. There are various obvious societal factors at play that we are all living through, but this is the harsh reality. I believe it will take many years until the arts sector in Australia recovers sadly. More than ever friends, please support inside Aussie artists- we need you more than ever,” said Noonan.
While I love live music and I feel for the artists I am not comfortable going to shows. Hundreds of people are still dying each week.
Not that it seems to bother that many people judging by the utter lack of masks at the very crowded shops right now.