I’ve been debating writing this post for nearly a week now. I wanted to wait until the initial rush of emotion calmed down, lest I say something I didn’t really mean, or that I regretted. The subject still gets me just as angry and emotional when it’s brought up, though, so it bears writing about. Here goes.

HIM announced their “No Sleep ‘Til Halloween” tour on August 4, 2006, with Kill Hannah, LostProphets, and Papa Roach supporting. The tour was to run for several weeks in October, ending on Halloween. At the time I was kind of disappointed, because it seemed the tour was pretty much concentrated in the North/Northeast, but I figured that was because a) HIM came to the South/Southwest on their spring tour, or b) they were planning on adding dates to this fall tour. I was, of course, hoping for the latter. Tickets for the first leg went on sale on August 12.

(It should also be noted here that Kill Hannah and LostProphets would be touring together with The Rasmus until the beginning of October, then they would then join up with HIM on October 18. Kill Hannah was also to play several dates the first week of October in Canada supporting 30 Seconds To Mars. I don’t know why it should be noted, but it seems important for the sake of completeness.)

So. At the end of August, an astute friend of mine (hi DeShawn) pointed out that there were suddenly new HIM/Kill Hannah dates listed on TicketMaster, including one for November 4 in Kansas City. Becca and I immediately jumped on these tickets and danced with glee at the thought of getting to see Kill Hannah again, and I was grateful for the chance to get to see HIM again as well. We had seen HIM in May in St. Louis, and they had Aiden open for them. Aiden puts on such an aggressive, amazing show that I felt sort of let-down by HIM’s mellower, more hands-off stage show, and I felt as though I hadn’t truly appreciated the experience, so I was looking forward to seeing HIM again and truly appreciating them. I had been a Kill Hannah fan, but after finally seeing them live opening for 30 Seconds To Mars, I fell in love hard (as had most of my friends) and we were falling over ourselves to get a chance to see them live again. So, needless to say, this concert was the source of a great deal of excitement for many reasons.

Tickets in hand (literally) several weeks later, we began to make travel plans to Kansas City. Reservations were made, modes of transportation aquired, money put forth. Then a few days later, while browsing TicketMaster, I noticed some of the other November dates had unexplainedly been cancelled. This caused me to raise an eyebrow. (You know where this is going, don’t you?) Then, the fateful email from TicketMaster arrived on September 20:

Hello, this is Ticketmaster Customer Service with an important alert for
your upcoming event. HIM, scheduled at MEMORIAL HALL on SATURDAY
NOVEMBER 4 , 2006 , at 6:00 PM, has been cancelled.

Your credit card will automatically be credited the ticket price and
convenience charges, and should post to your account within 7 to 10
business days. Please note, the $4.60 per order processing fee and any
ticket Fast or UPS delivery charges are non-refundable.

Well.

We were taken aback, to say the least, especially since HIM hadn’t even officially announced those dates! “Ah-ha,” said I. “Someone got a little eager, put the tickets on sale before the thing was officially announced, and it’s a technicality.” I figured we were going to be screwed out of $5 in fees because that’s how Ticketmaster is, and we’d have to re-order our tickets and all would be well.

This idea was bolstered by the email I received from the HIM Street Team on September 22:

HIM have announced a second run of tour dates for their upcoming North American Tour. The dates begin Nov. 3 in Denver, CO, and route the band through the midwest and into the southeast.

The announcement then appeared on heartagram.com, though strangely enough if you go back there now, the announcement is dated September 10. I don’t remember it being there then, but okay. Regardless, this was announced after the cancellation emails. So we wait on the edge of our seats for news, and I constantly check TicketMaster, expecting to see the big red CANCELLED next to our date replaced by an On Sale date at any time. I was completely baffled as to what was going on. Were they going to be doing the second leg of the tour or not?

Imagine my shock when on September 26 I found that those red CANCELLEDs had begun to multiply, and were now next to several of the October dates! The next time I checked my email, this was waiting:

HIM have announced the cancellation of their fall tour. The band will not be playing scheduled U.S. shows in favor of entering the recording studio (see canceled dates below).

HIM hope fans will not be let down, but rather will look forward to seeing them back on the road with new songs to share. The band have been steadily writing material for their forthcoming album and are eager to start preliminary rehearsal of very early tracks. HIM have not been able to test any new material due to their busy touring and promotion schedule. This fall will be the first opportunity for the band members to talk and work out new HIM material for a 2007 release!

Singer Ville Valo explains the band’s decision: “Our dearest fellowship of the Heartagram, you haven’t seen the last of us yet. We just want to keep it fresh for you and stump you with new material. I didn’t feel that I could do that without rehearsing some of this stuff that’s stuck in my heart. We’re happy to have new fans come aboard the ship, but I feel we’ve got to keep it exciting and new. We’ve started writing and I can’t wait for you guys to hear what we’re working on.”

The band have spent the last year touring non-stop behind Dark Light. Most recently completing a successful spring U.S. headlining tour with stops at Jimmy Kimmel Live and Last Call With Carson Daly along the way.

I was, to say the least, outraged. I felt like I’d been slapped in the face. Most bands, when they have to cancel dates (let alone a whole tour!) at least have the decency to sound apologetic. HIM makes it sound like they’ve done us a huge favor, and we should be grateful. That isn’t a very sympathetic attitude toward your fans. It’s arrogant.

Yes, I know HIM has been touring for the majority of the months since Dark Light came out last fall. That’s what a band does. It tours. Or, I should say, it announces tours, and then it tours. I’m sure the three bands that now are scrambling to book gigs after having their fall plans shredded could tell a little bit about extensive touring. Maybe they all should just pack up and go back home and record another album as well?

The amount of shows they’ve played don’t sway me. It’s nothing special. They could have toured 365 days of the last year, or they could have toured for a week. That isn’t the point. The point is, if you want to record an album, record an album. If you announce a tour, have enough respect for your fans (and your supporting acts) to follow through on the commitment. If you still want to record, do it after you get off tour or rent studio space in various cities on off days (as Aiden did to prepare for and record their upcoming EP). Or if you absolutely have to cancel, try to sound at least a little contrite for screwing everyone who had counted on the dates out of their plans. When 30 Seconds To Mars had to cancel their week of Canadian dates at the beginning of October (thus in the process helping Kill Hannah get what was probably a delightful double screwing) they were incredibly apologetic and worked as quickly as possible to get make-up dates set up (half of them have been rescheduled, the others still pending). Aiden also cancelled their UK tour earlier this year (ironically enough to tour with HIM), and they are now in the process of making those dates up, even though that has kept them on the road for over a year straight. Those are just two examples I’m personally aware of (thanks to Tanya, who reminded me of them).

The point here? Live up to your commitments. That’s what other bands do. Or if there are genuine, personal/sensitive reasons for needing the time off, don’t lie to the fans that feed and clothe you with flip excuses. Ask for privacy and for the respect that you obviously already feel entitled to, and your fans will give it to you. They love you. They are already falling over themselves to forgive this. They deserve better than the way they’ve been treated.

Something about that email, Ville’s quote, the reactions from the supporting bands, and the way this whole business went down just doesn’t sit right with me. I would be willing to wager that things aren’t really as they’ve been presented to us. I doubt we’ll ever know the full truth, and I’m sure it could be argued whether or not we even are owed any truth at all. Regardless of the true circumstances, the way it was handled has left a bad taste, and it won’t be quickly forgotten. As for forgiveness… it remains to be seen. A good beginning would be for the band to even ask.