Black Keys give a pitiful excuse for canceling their North American tour

After previously announcing a huge arena tour of North America, the Black Keys said screw it and cancelled everything. Why?
Black Keys explain tour cancellation.
Black Keys explain tour cancellation. / Matthew Baker/GettyImages
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If you had bought tickets to the Black Keys North American tour, too bad! The duo shockingly canceled all the dates last week and with no warning. This, of course, led many to speculate exactly what happened. Was someone sick, or did some tragedy befall the group?

Well, no. To be honest, no explanation the Black Keys give would make sense unless it was a sudden illness. Simply canceling tour dates after people have purchased tickets is an unfair thing to do and a very good way to lose a bunch of fans. "Hello, son/daughter, we got Black Keys tickets! I know how much you wanted them! Oh, never mind; they canceled."

The group's explanation is rather lame. Instead of a big arena, they decided they wanted to play in more "intimate" settings. This would show the duo's extreme lack of good business. They could have planned on smaller venues all along, of course, instead of changing their minds after tickets had been sold.

Black Keys explain shock cancellation of their tour

The likely truth is that the Black Keys, who are a great group and deserve a massive following, simply had not sold as many tickets as they hoped. No musical artist wants to show up to a half-full arena and play their songs loudly so that the sound is echoed off empty seats and makes the whole experience terrible.

Isn't it much better to peeve off those fans who had planned on going? The cancellation of dates almost says to fans, "We were glad you were going to come, but the cool kids were not showing up as we expected, so instead, we are changing where we are playing so the less cool kids can be there. Sorry (not sorry)!"

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The duo's full announcement of why the tour dates were canceled was posted on social media and read, "The band wants to assure everyone that Dan & Patrick are alive and well...we have decided to make some changes to the North American leg of the International Players Tour...that will enable us to offer a similarly exciting, intimate experience for both fans and the band, and will be announcing a revised set of dates shortly...Thank you for your understanding and apologies for the surprise change."

The shows might be great, but fans still have a right to be upset. Plans were made, and the band changed them. The Black Keys need to treat the fans they do have better.

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