Another tour bites the dust as The Agonist pull plug on European shows

A press photo of The Agonist
(Image credit: The Agonist)

The Agonist have cancelled all of their planned shows in Europe this summer to avoid losing "a dangerous amount of money."

The Canadian melodic death metal band released a candid statement on their decision to pull the plug on their planned European dates.

They say: "We must unfortunately announce that we cannot make any EU summer shows this year. The reasons are a combination of multiple factors. You guys probably all know by now how expensive touring is at the moment – it’s been a hot topic.

"Rising costs are affecting everyone now, from legacy bands to local bands, and we are no exception to that. Unfortunately, if we went to Europe on our current arrangement, we would stand to lose a dangerous amount of money, putting ourselves in financial jeopardy. We hope you understand this difficult choice."

The Agonist had announced a number of European festival appearances, all of which have been cancelled.

They're not the only band to cancel planned dates recently. This week, Anthrax cancelled a string of European festival dates. And last year, they pulled out of 20 shows in Europe as part of their 40th anniversary celebrations, blaming spiralling costs.

On their latest cancellations, Anthrax say: "To all our friends in Europe. Due to a series of logistical and scheduling issues, we won’t be able to make it to Europe this summer for the festivals we were set to perform at. We’re really disappointed about this, and want you to know that a solid – and overdue – European tour is a priority for us. Lots of exciting things are in the pipeline, so stay tuned."

The Agonist's most recent album was 2019's Orphans.

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Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.