Terror fear hits gigs

The New York and Washington terrorist attacks are having a knock-on effect in the music industry, with dozens of American artists pulling out of overseas tours.

At the time of writing The Pernice Brothers, Pantera, Static-X, Joey Beltram, Gillian Welch, Wheatus and Collective Soul have all put their Irish dates on indefinite hold.

“We heard last week from Collective Soul’s management that they didn’t want to fly, so their Vicar St. show is off,” confirms promoter Peter Aiken. “While not in the grand scheme of things a huge show, that’s still 700 or 800 people who won’t now be coming to the venue. The odd cancellation’s fine, but were that to happen across the board, it’d have a serious effect on business. Short-term, though, there are a lot of great British and Irish acts to plug the holes.”

According to Aiken, whose recent sell-outs include Bob Dylan in Kilkenny and Bon Jovi at the RDS, the American music industry is still in a state of shock.

“You can’t get hold of anyone over there at the moment because they’re all in meetings. Nobody knows what effect this is going to have on things like insurance and transporting equipment.

“What’s definitely boosted confidence is U2 putting tickets on sale for their next batch of American dates, including New York. I also heard from the Destiny’s Child camp this week that they’re still on for next month’s show at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast. If the number one pop band in the world is prepared to travel at the moment, then hopefully others will follow.”

• AS A RESULT of current tensions, Shaggy has rescheduled his Dublin Point and Belfast Odyssey shows for February.