dexterismyhero

Ouch... this is all turning a bit nasty.

I've thrown plenty of criticism at the band recently - ironically it was low tickets sales leading to the cancellation of the UK tour. And I could easily throw some schtick at everyone whining here - at least you've got some live shows to complain about.

But I know only too well how much it sucks not to get the chance to see this band we all love so much - whether that's due to them canceling or not having enough tickets to go round or evil scalpers hyper-inflating the prices.

All I can say is that however angry or bad you feel right now I was feeling exactly that only a few weeks ago. I couldn't even bear to listen to a Wilco song so disenchanted by them as I was. I thought I could live out the rest of my life without ever listening to a Wilco track again. But that's the thing about this damnded band - the music transcends all the disappointments, the missed opportunities, the frustrations, the anger and despair. As much as I wanted to keep hating them for letting me down I just can't. Listening to YHF right now and I know that even if I never get to see them live again the music will always be there.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is - I feel your pain but you will get over it because with Wilco you can't do otherwise. Stick on your favourite album of theirs, whichever that might be, turn out the light, plug in the headphones, close your eyes and remember its not about one brief night at a gig, it's about the incredible, emotion laden, passionate music that stays with you a whole lifetime.

PS This is what happens when you haven't listened to any Wilco in nearly eight weeks

not available in the uk, due to ______________ (place your excuse within the gap provided)

'You b****ds sending us Posh and Becks'?

I also love the tracks on the UK only version of the CD:

1. Is that the Thanks I Get For Buying Gig Tickets?

2. Let's Not Get Carried Away, It's Only a God Damn Tour That's Been Canceled.

3. One True Excuse (It's Scheduling Conflicts Honest).

4. Impossible Britain (NOT live).

5. Hate it in the UK (Definitely NOT live).

this to dexterismyhero,

 

ok i understand that your circumstances are different to mine and my heart goes out to you probably more than anyone else . i didnt mean to gloat. for the record im taking two days without pay and to be honest i dont really care. and no im not in an extremely well paid job. i just couldnt pass it up. some things are more important.

 

you know theyll be back at some stage. and they always play somewhere up north. they have played theyre fair share of gigs in the UK this year.

Thanks leev. I hope you enjoy Dublin - and I mean that in total sincerity

I've shed my disappointment, it's time to move on and accept we'll probably never know the real reason the tour was canceled. Yes I was crushingly disappointed but there's bigger things in life to fret about and Wilco are just a band after all. One things for sure though - I won't be purchasing the special tour edition of SBS :pirate

anyway, having had myself a day off today i thought id skim the budget airlines to see what was on offer. my first thought was somewhere on the continent but then came across 0.01p flights to dublin on the dates in question. then i went to the ticketmaster website via the band website and found tickets still available for both shows at vicar st(although the 15th was supposed to be sold out). theres a hostel just down the road from the venue (and the guinness brewery is close by) which has dorm rooms for under a tenner.

 

im flying out of gatwick 10am thursday the 15th going to the final gig of Wilco's SBS tour and flying back the next afternoon to see ryan adams at thehammersmith apollo. should be some week. all you other hard done by fans should join me if you can (my wifes worried), especially if youve never seen em before. they really are the best bloody band in the world.

 

cheers

Hummm....

I can't find flights as cheap as that - once you tag on fuel charge, insurance and taxes. Plus to get to Gatwick would cost me around

But what I was getting at was that I didn't suggest it

 

So there is no ''also''

And I said I'm sure they'll play London again but the rest of the UK has to be very doubtful if poor ticket sales are the reason this tour has been canceled.

I don't understand why people are suggesting that they might never come back (to uk). They sold out 2 nights at the Empire earlier this year, so there's obviously enough of a fan base to make it worthwhile.

I would have considered a trip/break to Spain or Belgium if there hadn't been any uk shows, but the late cancellation made it too difficult.

To be honest, I was really surprised that they were coming back to London so soon, and was thinking how lucky we are, especially in London...

 

oh well oh well

I'm sure they will come back to London but if poor ticket sales in the regions is the reason for canceling this time then what incentive have they got to ever arrange another regional tour because surely they'll just hit the same problem?

This band has been great to its fans for years. To assume that they've suddenly become cold-hearted bastards overnight is a bizarre leap.

If we got a proper explanation from the band I'd forgive them in an instant. It's this poor excuse for an excuse that's got us UK folks riled. A bit of honesty/clarity would be nice - that's all I ask.

Yes, I would assume so also.

 

Then again, it is just a theory to fit the circumstances based on what little we have to go on. I did say I was clutching at straws.

 

My gut feeling is they're not coming back

I want to keep clutching at straws too but they're not giving us anything solid to clutch at. I really expected them to have said something else by now - given us something in the form of an understandable reason or even an apology that sounded like they actually gave a toss. All we had was the half hearted sorry and 'scheduling conflicts' message on the website which has now long gone.

I don't think they're coming back either. There might be the odd London date in future years but that'll be it. So I guess that I'll never have the chance to see my favourite band live again

Apologies to anyone now bored with this thread, but how about this for a possibility...

 

...a fall-out/unresolvable dispute with the promoter/Academy Group (might they be one and the same?). That would explain the need to cancel all 4 UK shows and no others, and why we've been given no option to hang onto the tickets for re-scheduled shows. Also, there wouldn't have been time to move the shows to other venues???

 

I know, I'm probably clutching at straws, but other than this theory I can't figure out why we couldn't just hang onto the tickets if the tour really stands any chance of being re-scheduled.

 

I'm lucky. I got a full refund on my tickets, but I feel for those who've lost cash - it doesn't matter if it's only a small amount, it's money you earned, and are losing for nothing. Disgraceful! (I'm talking about the ticket agencies here).

 

Anyway, if it is a problem with the Academys - can I recommend the Sage in Gateshead, if anyone connected with the band is reading? Purpose built for music, fantastic acoustics. Only problem would be which of the two 'halls' Wilco would play in (probably Hall 2. Smaller, but can be converted for standing).

If that's the case then it would be nice for Wilco's management to tell us, rather than a whole week later still having zero information for us let alone any indication of whether Wilco will ever play the UK again. Although after this debacle even if they do schedule new dates in the future I won't be buying tickets until I know the band has actually landed in the country.

I am getting a little anxious now that the Welly venue has been changed to

Happy for all you Antipodeans but seriously? Talk about rubbing vast quantities of salt into very raw wounds.

Think I'm going to try and get into Son Volt's stuff. Or even JB's solo albums. Desperate times and all that

Suggestion all my British friends:

 

Why not just go see them in Spain?

 

Can't you fly there for like 50p and get a nice hotel room and eat decent food for a change, all for less than a night out in ol' Blighty would cost you--what with the outrageous Tube fare and the overpriced pints and bangers and mash and what not?

True it ain't good for your carbon footprint karma, but we can ask Al Gore to excuse it this one time for Wilco's sake.

I wish. But it would still come in with flights and hotels at way more than I can afford. And even if I could afford it getting time off work at such short notice is impossible.

I know American's think the UK is tiny and hopping over to the continent is as simple as flying from New York to Chicago but really it isn't for the vast majority of us working on minimum wage.

It's gammon with 2 eggs that you want...

 

Get out of town - the only way to eat gammon steak is with pineapple rings...

But I've never heard of gammon steak with mint. Wrong four legged farm animal. It's the one with the woolly coat that goes well with mint sauce

I did chuckle when americans tell us Brits how easy/close it is to get from various places. Our transport system is a disgrace for a developed economy. If you get out of a gig at 11pm in London. You have got no chance of getting a train to Birmingham/Manchester/Liverpool or anywhere. So, in rip off Britain it will cost you near

This is the email I got from ticketline where I bought my tickets:

"Dear Customer,

We are writing to inform you that the Wilco concert on 2nd November at Manchester Academy 1 has been cancelled.

Please return your tickets to your point of purchase. If you were to collect your tickets from the venue on the evening of the show, you will be refunded within the week.

If you booked over the phone or internet, please send your tickets to the below address:

Customer Services

Piccadilly Ticketline

PO Box 4061

Manchester

M60 1YT

It is your responsibility to ensure that tickets returned are received by us. It is therefore advisable to return any tickets by secure post.

Upon receipt of the tickets, the face value will be returned back to the card that you purchased them with."

Why do they need the actual tickets back to process a refund? It's not like I can use the tickets for anything else and they must have record of my purchase in order to send the email. Surely simply refunding my payment back to my credit card should be straight forward? It's total nonsense.

I actually doubt Wilco will make amends next year. They've already stated that they won't be touring much in 2008, so a big trip to the UK seems unlikely. If they are going to reschedule for next year they should have said that at the same time as apologising for canceling these gigs in the first place - with a proper and understandable reason.

I'm glad I'm not the only one totally peed off about this.

I was starting to think from some responses that this was one of those fan sites where you're not allowed to criticise the band

Poor ticket sales would be odd too - the last gig I went to (Manchester 2004) was packed to the rafters. That was Academy 2 rather than Academy 1 though but if ticket sales weren't so great then they should have stuck to the smaller venue.

But if it is poor ticket sales then in part that can surely be blamed on the seeming lack of interest on Wilco's part in touring round the UK? You've got to work to build a fanbase, especially in a country which might be small but is so important in music terms and has so many bands touring all the time. There's a lot of competition for music fans' ears and gig time and no gigs in three years plus minimal publicity for these gigs and SBS isn't conducive to people even knowing the band exists.

Your post shows plenty of love, caring and generosity towards the band. Especially since you obviously couldn't be bothered to travel a few miles to see one of the various London shows over the past years. Devoted fan, for sure.

 

Oh and great introduction post too You're gonna make loads of friends on here with your attitude.

Can't be bothered? I wish that were the case. Unfortunately not all of us can afford to buy gig tickets, plus the

Man, I know you are upset, but geeez. I'm sure we will get more info on why they cancelled the dates. And they still are one of the most generous bands around. This incident doesn't erase how good to their fans they have always been.

We've been waiting three and a half long years for these dates. We've been passed over (literally as whatever plane flew the band to the various German/Belgium/French/Spanish gigs must have flown over the UK) on multiple occasions for seemingly no reason. I've seen the reports on the hundreds of gigs they've done in the last few years, revisiting places in the US many times over. I've bought every CD, extolled the virtues of the band to everyone I know who owns a pair of ears. I got insanely excited about these UK gigs, more than anyone with any sense should have done.

And now nothing. Not even a proper explanation or apology from Wilco HQ. My faith in and love for Wilco is badly shaken. I thought better of them.

I've just registered to say that this sucks so much and there better be (1) a darned good reason and (2) some rescheduled dates soon.

Wilco haven't played any regional UK gigs since 2004 (discounting the lone Nottingham date in 2005) so needless to say those of us not living in the capital have missed out for 3 long years. Europe on the other hand has had a multitude of dates in the last three years - what have Wilco got against us Brits?

Refunds are fine but what about refunding credit card charges and postal costs in returning tickets (they advise sending tickets back by secure recorded post). Sure its only a few quid but still bad news for the UK fans. Who's going to repay those amounts?

What has happened to the band that has always been so giving and generous? Does that band exist any more? Do they not care about their British fans? We all know JT had a issue with London crowds at one point but I thought all was forgiven? Plus that was London - there's plenty of love out in the provinces, always has been.

Very very very disappointed that 'scheduling conflicts' proves UK fans come way way down at the bottom of the list of Wilco priorities these days.