The simple reality is that the tour is not happening because of the financial situation. I've spoken to MP, JR and JLB about it and basically it comes down to this.
In this situation bands have 2 options:
1. Tour yourselves into the ground because lots of dates is the only way to make money, playing smaller and smaller venues to fewer and fewer people.
2. Don't.
As it turns out, PN09 was probably not a good idea for the current climate. Live music is one of the first things to suffer, tours are being cancelled all over the place (especially in the USA) and people had to make the decision to pay out equivalent money for, in some cases, half the amount of DT that they were used to. DT were worried about the turn out in the States, they noticed from stage that many of the 'cheap, far away seats' were full when the 'expensive, close seats' weren't. They know that if they went out for a headlining tour or 'evening with' they would do really well, but it's not just up to them ultimately and they had to figure out if it was possible.
All round the world promoters are getting very nervous. In Europe, DT 'stayed about level' but because they didn't go UP promoters were getting jittery and I guess the States could only be worse (where things did go down a little, most likely because people thought they could choose between PN09 OR a headlining show in 2010 and so they chose to ‘wait’).
One of the things that the promoters are worried about is 'over saturation' and they do not want people coming back who've 'only just been through' apparently. They worry that if X amount of people turned out to leg A, then fewer will turn up to leg B.
Now,
we all know that the reality of this is that that's not the case for DT. MORE people probably would have turned out for leg B had they got the chance. But we ALSO know that DT don't have a good understanding from the side of the promoters anyway (just ask Florida or wherever). Now imagine how
nervous promoters are going to be thinking!
Finally, I will say that to have stayed roughly level, or slipped a little due to the bill, in the current climate (where other bands' entire tours are being cancelled due to poor ticket sales) is quite an achievement. DT know this and they do not want to appear to go backwards, they want to keep going forward, improving the production, the lights, the video and playing bigger venues and shows. And I think that will be achievable once the economy settles down a bit.
Before you think that as a European I don’t understand how you feel, you should know that I'm gutted too, especially as we had planned a big trip to the States in the spring and I wanted to hit my 40th DT show. But after speaking to the guys about all this at the end of the first leg of the European tour, it was clear that this probably was coming.
I'm going to keep myself warm with the promise of a Transatlantic tour in the spring and look forward to James's new album in the meantime...
K x
<message edited by LittleKezza on Saturday, November 14, 2009 4:59 AM>