You may be aware that some speculation over the forthcoming US tour has been circulating - we now have confirmation that the Wildhearts have been offered the opportunity to support the Darkness on their US tour and have accepted; this has meant that many of the shows on the original US tour have had to be cancelled. Ginger has mailed the following message of explanation: "We will stick by you, if you stick by us?. An apology has been made on behalf of the band and management for the cancellation of the forthcoming US tour, in favour of continuing to tour with The Darkness around the world. This Darkness tour means that we can reach more people, and that means coming back to headline USA a heck of a lot more in the future. They know there are a lot of people that have bought plane tickets, concert tickets and spent weeks looking forward to seeing them on the co-headline tour with Dragons. They have said that they will try to pay you back, and make it up to you in full, over the course of the next few years. They will help out with free guest tickets on the Darkness tour, where applicable (if you've spent a fortune already then you deserve compensation), and try to make life comfortable for the true hardcore fans that were the first to buy tickets, etc, when they come back to play a proper headline tour. They will do everything they can to honour the dates already booked, until the Darkness tour starts. This is as big of a surprise to the band as it is to you, and I hope this doesn't lead to a mass exodus from the bands fanbase in US, although they do understand your disappointment. They hope you stick with them, because it looks likely to be the best chance to crack the US that the band have ever had, and that has always been the wish of the American fans, as well as the band. They hope you can understand the reasons for the decision. If not, please write to them at the ?ask Ginger? section of the web site. This means that the revised US schedule is as follows: 03/19/04 San Antonio, TX @ Sam's Burger Joint; 03/20/04 Austin, TC @ Emo's Gearhead Records SXSW Showcase; 03/21/04 New Orleans, LA @ The Circle Bar; 03/22/04 Atlanta, GA @ E.A.R.L.; 03/23/04 Charlotte, NC @ The Room; 03/24/04 Baltimore, MD @ Otto Bar. Darkness Support Dates: 03/26/04 Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave Bar; 03/27/04 Chicago, IL @ The Vic; 03/28/04 Detroit, MI @ St. Andrew's Hall; 03/30/04 Cleveland, OH @ Peabody's Downunder; 03/31/04 Pittsburgh, PA @ Club Laga; 04/02/04 Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of Living Arts; 04/03/04 Boston, MA @ Avalon Ballroom; 04/04/04 Providence, RI @ Lupo's at the Strand; 04/06/04 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club; 04/08/04 Atlanta, GA @ Cotton Club; 04/09/04 New Orleans, LA @ The House of Blues; 04/11/04 Houston, TX @ Engine Room; 04/12/04 Dallas, TX @ Trees; 04/13/04 Austin, TX @ La Zona Rosa; 04/15/04 Tempe, AZ @ Marquee Theatre; 04/16/04 Mission Beach, CA @ Canes Bar & Grill; 04/17/04 Los Angeles, CA @ Henry Fonda Theatre; 04/18/04 Los Angeles, CA @ Henry Fonda Theatre. The band and their management are also working hard at present to bring the Wildhearts over to the US again for their own US dates. If anyone has purchased flight tickets, made hotel bookings and so on for a show that has now been cancelled, they suggest you check your travel insurance and flight refund policies if you decide not to make the trip. Also you may want to check with your credit card company as these purchases may also be insured within a grace period. Also all venues will of course honour reimbursements on tickets sold - please contact the source you bought them from for refund information. This will also have an impact on the UK tour - this is still going ahead, but the dates are being rescheduled by a week or so to accommodate this tour. We will bring you these new dates very shortly once they have all been confirmed. On the subject of UK dates, an extra acoustic show has been added - they play The Limelight in Crewe on Saturday the 13th of March. Finally, they know that many of you will be obviously put out by this change of plans - if any of you have purchased flights etc and are unable to get refunds please contact them at [email protected] and they will try and do what they can to help, although it should be noted that this is the Darkness's tour and therefore the band and their management have only limited control on guest tickets
http://www.thewildhearts.com
