2007-07-03
KEITH WILL NOT TOUR IN OCTOBER
Keith Urban will not tour in October
Concerts in Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Berlin and Dusseldorf postponed

Keith Urban will not return to Germany in October. International commitments have now led to a change of his tour plans. Therefore the shows in Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Berlin and Dusseldorf will be postponed.

The acclaimed artist, who fascinated the German audience with his unique mix of rock, pop and country during his sellout club tour in the spring, will most likely return to Germany in 2008. All ticket holders are invited to obtain full refunds at the respective box offices, where they have purchased their tickets.

"We are absolutely convinced of Keith Urban's success", said concert promoter Marek Lieberberg, who assumes that the shows will be rescheduled sometime next year.

http://keithurban.de.com/content/international/international_news_article.php?em2007=163581_-1__0_~0_-1_7_2007_0_0

http://keithurban.de.com/site.php#

Update:

2007-07-03
Keith Urban will not be touring Germany, the UK, or Ireland in October. International commitments have now led to a change of his tour plans. Therefore the shows will be postponed.

The acclaimed artist, who fascinated the German and UK audiences with his unique mix of rock, pop and country during his sellout club tour in the spring, will most likely return in 2008.  "We are absolutely convinced of Keith Urban's success", said concert promoter Marek Lieberberg, who assumes that the shows will be rescheduled sometime next year.  

"We are dedicated to presenting Keith's music in Ireland," said promoter Eamonn McCann.

http://www.keithurban.net/content/news_article.php?em1934=163582_-1__0_~0_-1_7_2007_0_0&content=news  

--Last edited by MtlUrbanFan on 2007-07-05 04:42:53 --

International commitments caused him to postpone? Hmmmmm. Wonder if he is going to accompany his wife on one of her ambassadorial trips for UNIFEM?  Thank you for the information, Gaetene.

What the heck, the guy DOES need a break.

Quote :

Colleen wrote : What the heck, the guy DOES need a break.

Very true. But If it were happening to you or I we'd be angry too.  

Quote :

Colleen wrote : What the heck, the guy DOES need a break.

A break from what?  He hasn't even done two dozen concerts on this tour.  This is a large part of the frustration of being a Keith fan.  His tour schedule always seems so haphazard.  First, he never gives us enough advance notice on ticket sales to plan, then he sells tickets and changes his mind.  Sounds like he decided to follow wifey on one of her gigs.  His fans are not going to be happy about that.  Not one bit.  "International committments" can't be a concert tour, and if it were something that was actually a Keith-related thing I'm sure they'd say what it is.  Yep, he's doing a wifey thing and causing the fans a lot of inconvenience as they try to return tickets to all the different venues.

I post here infrequently but decided to jump into this one.
I know the head of one of the fan clubs in Europe whose
connections have told him that the postponement is due to
poor ticket sales.  When Keith was there in April, he played in clubs.  His management, not him, tried to book him into larger
arenas and he is not well enough known to fill those venues.
It is believed he will go there in 2008 and perhaps do a theater
tour.
K

My Scottish friend, Christine, is going to be SO disappointed - she had front row seats for the Glasgow gig!

I'm so sympathetic for the European fans.

Jeanie

Quote :

Kdfish wrote : I know the head of one of the fan clubs in Europe whose connections have told him that the postponement is due to poor ticket sales.  When Keith was there in April, he played in clubs.  His management, not him, tried to book him into larger arenas and he is not well enough known to fill those venues. It is believed he will go there in 2008 and perhaps do a theater tour. K

This was my initial thought too.  Maybe they were aiming a little too big at the moment.  Didn't somebody here say they thought the arena Keith played in Perth was too big and should have gone for something smaller?  I was one of those very surprised that he was going back to Europe again this year.  

3 months notice is a long time.  They could have waited longer to cancel to see if things picked up, but they didn't.  Maybe the reason the dates were never posted on the official board was because they were trying to come up with alternative venues they could agree on? Pure speculation on my part.

People, of course, have the right to be disappointed, but jumping to conclusions is silly.  I feel for those that purchased non-refundable travel, but that is one thing I never do.  The savings doesn't make up for the risk of loosing it all.  Especially when purchased so far in advance.

I think there was plenty of advance notice of ticket sales for this tour.  I bought my tickets for an August show in January or February.  How much more notification do you want?  

And blaming the "wifey" thing is being very unfair.  

--Last edited by iluvsongs89 on 2007-07-05 08:10:00 --

My guess is possible poor ticket sales as KDfish said.  

Also...the gruelling schedual he agreed to do.  I know some might think, 'Heck, he has every other week off."  But, he's flying halfway around the world every other week.  And, as many of us who have made the trip can tell you....the jet lag is just killer.  It took me a week and a half to get over my last trip.  Just as you start to feel better, he is on his way back again.  

As someone who has bought airfare for cancelled concerts I have a lot of empathy for people who have purchased non-refundable tickets.  They can still go on a trip...just not to go see Keith.  

I agree with everything you said, iluvsongs89.

I do feel for the ones that already have tickets tho!

Sherri

I learnt from my experience with the ARIA(Australian Record Industry Association) Awards in October last year.  Decided to do something 'crazy', and go to the ARIAs because Keith was scheduled to perform one song, and it had been SO long since we'd seen him. Airfares, tickets, accommodation etc. weren't cheap.  (The hotels at Homebush had already bumped up their rates for that weekend! )  Then the announcement came that Keith was going into rehab.  I'd bought everything at the cheapest available rates, so no refunds.  I went anyway, and had a good time, but it wasn't quite the same.

So now I pay a little more to ensure that I can cancel or reschedule bookings without penalty.  It's worth it for the peace of mind. (Though it didn't stop me worrying when Keith cancelled that Manchester gig two weeks before the Australian tour started!   )

Renee, you're right - those people with non-refundable air tickets can still go on a trip.  I'm not sure that that would make me feel any better, though.  

Jeanie  

--Last edited by jeaneeem on 2007-07-05 09:20:00 --

We don't have any information about what those international commitments are so we do not know why he is postponing his trip to Europe.  The post about poor ticket sales seems to me to be the most logical reason--Keith is not as well known in Europe as he is in Australia and the USA. If that's the case then it would make it much harder to fill the places they had scheduled him for, and the poor ticket sales idea makes even more sense. The article also said that people could get a complete refund for their tickets--I don't know about Europe but most airlines in the states usually give you a year to use your airline ticket if you have to postpone your trip. I have no idea how it works for hotel reservations.  

--Last edited by lowezl on 2007-07-05 10:08:03 --

The poor ticket sales sounds like the most logical to me too.
I don't think Keith would cancel dates already set up to go somewhere with his wife. That kind of thing could be a real career killer. Just doesn't sound like something he would do.

Well, if it is poor ticket sales at the larger venues, then the "international committments" line is a silly one to use if we're not going to see him doing something "international" during October.  And doing Europe twice in one year when he hasn't even made it to all the country music corners of the US with this tour is just plain poor planning on his management's part.  This is just plain ol' bad PR that Keith doesn't need right now.  Who's making these lame decisions?

While I might agree poor ticket sales to be a valid and logical reason, in light of events of the past year, I would opine such to be a decision poorly perceived by fans and those others watching Keith's career. Given the current momentum, I hope it was a decision carefully considered.

Regarding travel, every airline's policy differs, but, generally, most international tickets can be credited for use (meaning a new booking made) within a year of the original ticket purchase date (not flight date), less a nominal change fee (substantial in some cases). Also, some airlines restrict such credit to re-booking in certain fare classes, which may mean additional cost, in addition to any normal upfare for rebooking, contingient on current price market conditions.

In other words, canceling and rescheduling of a non-refundable ticket generally sucks. For most folks of average means, absent fare mistakes, a refundable fare is outside of their range of affordability. As an example, when we went to Oz in May, we paid ~USD1500.00pp r/t for a "W" economy fare on United. Non-refundable and upgradeable via systemwide upgrade. The cheapest refundable fare in economy was ~USD6800pp r/t at the time we booked. Obviously, not affordable to us.

Since Keith's schedule has proven variable, I now will book all such travel using miles (award bookings), as such bookings are changeable and cancelable for free (as a UA 1K), so changes in his schedule don't impact us financially. Hotel reservations, either using points or revenue, are generally cancelable without penalty, save for pre-paid reservations, which I see no reason to use (cost vs benefit).

My advice to those whose travel is currently impacted by the cancellations would be to hold off for awhile before making any changes. Who knows what might happen. Airline tickets can generally be cancelled as late as midnight airport time on the day of travel, while still preserving rights to future use. No hurry

Good luck and my sympathies to those impacted.

Pat

Quote :

urbanrelief wrote : Well, if it is poor ticket sales at the larger venues, then the "international committments" line is a silly one to use if we're not going to see him doing something "international" during October.  And doing Europe twice in one year when he hasn't even made it to all the country music corners of the US with this tour is just plain poor planning on his management's part.  This is just plain ol' bad PR that Keith doesn't need right now.  Who's making these lame decisions?

Well, I don't know that saying "the tickets ain't selling," would be better PR.  I completely agree that it sucks for the fans, but going automatically to blaming "the wifey" isn't fair and likely isn't true.

I agree ..
its devestating for the fans that have bought their tickets, and paid their travel money,
I don't think that many know how going to see keith can send some people broke... they spend every cent they can find to attend Keith's shows to have a good time!...

This also does reflect badly on Keith , when his concerts get cancelled... no matter where in the world he is..for the those who wait for a tour to come their way, and wait and wait...
Then find that one is coming and the excitment and hours of arranging details etc...
then when the show gets cancelled there is a mighty plumet downwards filled with sadness and disappointment...

It does make sense that the arena's couldn't be filled , but I would have thought they should have waited to the live earth concerts as this would have been good promotion for Keith..just as the live 8 concerts were,,,,

Also being October...
I am thinking not only ticket sales prevented these shows... I think there may be a lot of factors that contribute to this decision..
not also forgettting its keith's 40th in Oct and aren't there a few award shows etc in Oct?

Guess time will show us what he has in store for October  

--Last edited by teemaree on 2007-07-05 11:12:57 --

Quote :

Well, I don't know that saying "the tickets ain't selling," would be better PR.  I completely agree that it sucks for the fans, but going automatically to blaming "the wifey" isn't fair and likely isn't true.

I can understand that immediate reaction in blaming the wife...
because it wouldn't be the first time he hasn't shown somewhere because of plans with the wife...
that was just the first thing that came to her mind, without knowing other details... like I said time will show, what the factors were to this tour being cancelled...
but by the press release it does sound like it was due to low ticket sales

Quote :

And doing Europe twice in one year when he hasn't even made it to all the country music corners of the US with this tour is just plain poor planning on his management's part.

Obviously Keith and his management thought otherwise Urbanrelief - plus I don't think there is anything written in concrete that Keith has to go to every major town in every state in the US before he decides to tour anywhere else - if that were the case then he'd never get out of the States which wouldn't exactly endear him to his many fans from Oz, the UK, Ireland and Europe.  You need to remember that you girls in the States are generally lucky enough to have him touring all year EVERY year whilst the rest of us (and I'm including Canada in this) only get him every two to three years - the rest of the time we have to make do with concert reviews from the mates on here and listen to his cds.  Try and put yourself in our shoes - imagine that Keith and Nicole decided to base themselves full-time in Sydney and he was touring every other week somewhere in Oz and only getting to the States (which is a minimum trip of 14 hours to LA or San Francisco and around 24 hours for Europe) every other year for let's just say 6 concerts in the major cities (which is what we got here in Oz this time around) - I think you'd be hoping that he would want to raise his profile a little more by coming to visit your country twice in the one year as well.

I feel very sorry for the fans in Europe but obviously there is something bigger in the pipeline (and I don't think that it would have anything to do with Nicole either cause I'm sure all things connected to her diary would have been factored into the original planning for 2007) that we aren't privy to as yet that has made him postpone these concerts for that time.  It could have been poor tix sales but I don't really buy that because I'm sure that the tix would have been on sale right up to the night of the concerts as they were here in Oz.  I guess the European fans just have to remember that the concerts have been postponed and that perhaps in 2008 he'll reschedule to get to the cities he was to go to this time around.

Pat, that is good advice for European travel.  Thanks.  The phrase "international commitments" is very misleading when you first read it unless you think of it in a marketing sense. It's been several years, but I read once where if an artist is contracted with a venue to sell so many tickets and he/she isn't able to do it, they have to come up with the money for the tickets they couldn't sell if they go on and have the concert or they can cancel or postpone the concert.  If this information is true, and if management is keeping close tabs on the ticket sales, it would seem to me more beneficial financially to the artist to cancel out rather than pay all the expense of shipping the equipment overseas and the difference for the unsold tickets they thought they originally could sell and were mistaken. Then the concert would be cancelled because the artist could not comply with the international commitments to fill the venue he/she had made earlier in the year. In that sense, the term "international commitments" would not mean that Keith has OTHER commitments in Europe preventing him from touring and cancelled because he couldn't comply with international commitments to fill the venues.  I agree with all of you-- We could sit here and speculate all night long and spin our wheels, but right now, there's no reason to blame Keith, his wife, or anybody else because none of us know the actual facts behind the cancellation.  

--Last edited by lowezl on 2007-07-05 11:30:39 --