The Black Keys blame management for tour cancellation and defend playing Crypto gig

nme.com:

The Black Keys have blamed their management for the cancellation of their 2024 tour, while defending their decision to play a Crypto gig.Last April, the band announced the ‘International Players Tour’ to support their 12th album ‘Ohio Players’, which was set to include 31 dates across North America. The tour was scrapped in May, however, with speculation that it was due to low ticket sales.The duo – comprising Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney – later opened up about the cancellation, saying it was axed and re-planned in favour of smaller theatre venues.

They also announced that they had split from their management team – Irving Azoff and Steve Moir of Full Stop Management – following the decision.Now, Auerbach and Carney have given an interview to Rolling Stone in which they discussed the fiasco. “The essential thing that we learned here was how many management companies are directly connected to a company that runs every single aspect of promotion in this country,” Carney said.“This whole industry is so intertwined from ticketing to promotion to the management company.

But essentially as artists – and this is the thing that we care the most about – it’s almost impossible to talk about this…. You’re dealing with management companies that co-own festivals with this other company.

You’re at the [whims] of these people who have other interests.”“There’s a concentration of connectivity that eliminates competition,” Carney continued. “Our tour, we had about 10 [arena] shows that were not doing great.

They were just in rooms that they shouldn’t have been in. So, in any situation like this tour, we might’ve had to take one on the chin and find new venues to play in certain cities, but instead, we were advised to cancel the whole