US rap icons Public Enemy have cancelled half of their Australian tour just five weeks before it was scheduled to begin.
The Fight The Power hitmakers were due to start their first Down Under tour in Perth on October 2 before performing in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle, and Brisbane.
Now, due to ‘unforeseen scheduling issues’, promoter TEG Live has axed the Perth, Adelaide, and Newcastle dates.
At this stage the Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane shows are still going ahead as planned.
Fans were quick to express their disappointment on social media following the news and questioned why the shows were cancelled.
Taking to the TripleJ subreddit, some crestfallen fans were suggesting the reason given by the promoter for the tour’s truncation was a ‘euphemism’ for low ticket sales.
‘They’re some convenient scheduling issues for the the three shows most likely to be undersold,’ one fan wrote.
Another fan suggested there should be more transparency from promoters when cancelling shows.Â
US rap icons Public Enemy have cancelled half of their Australian tour just five weeks before it was scheduled to beginÂ
‘Sometimes, it would be better for the promoter to just outright say they haven’t sold enough tickets,’ they said.
‘Because to claim there is a scheduling conflict as the reason to cancel one show despite not cancelling the show right before or immediately after gives it away anyway.’
Another chimed in: ‘Yes because it’s not profitable to book under-attended shows in isolated cities, and it’s not profitable having to cancel them.
‘Touring is business, and business goes where the money is.’Â
Due to ‘unforeseen scheduling issues’, promoter TEGLive has axed the Perth, Adelaide, and Newcastle dates
Taking to the TripleJ subreddit , crestfallen fans were suggesting that the reason given by the promoter for the tour’s truncation was a ‘euphemism’ for low ticket sales
One fan suggested there should be more transparency from promoters when cancelling shows
Seeing the lighter side of the situation, one fan suggested that the scheduling issues may have something to do with founding member Flavor Flav’s recent association, as sponsor and ‘hype man’, with the US women’s water polo team at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
‘Is there a female waterpolo happening somewhere at the same time?,’ they joked.
Public Enemy were formed in the mid-1980s in Long Island, New York by Chuck D and Flavor Flav.
They rose to prominence thanks to their uncompromising socio-political messaging and genre-defining albums including Fear of a Black Planet and It Takes a Nation Of Millions to Hold Us Back.
Seeing the lighter side of the situation, one fan suggested that the scheduling issues may have something to do with founding member Flavor Flav’s recent association, as sponsor and ‘hype man’, with the US women’s water polo team at the 2024 Partis Olympics
Speaking to TMZ in 2023, after Public Enemy’s first public performance in five years, Flav cleared the air about a supposed rift with fellow founder Chuck D.
‘A lot of people have been asking me, “Hey, why don’t you and Chuck reunite,” but my answer is this, “We never broke up to reunite,” he declared.Â
‘We just took a long break.’
Even though the two didn’t see each other for several years, Flav said there were no hard feelings between them.
‘There wasn’t no beef because I love my partner, man, and I know he loves me too,’ he told the outlet.
‘Sometimes,’ he added, ‘you know, you don’t see eye to eye on everything… but one thing about me and Chuck, we always manage to pull it back together to see eye to eye and keep moving forward.
Public Enemy rose to prominence thanks to their uncompromising socio-political messaging and genre-defining albums including Fear of a Black Planet and It Takes a Nation Of Millions to Hold Us Back
