Please do not kill the messenger, but a lot of these postponed tours currently scheduled for early and mid-2021 are going to be canceled. I don't mean they will be rescheduled to a later date, I mean they will no longer cease to be, refunds will (hopefully) be given and these bands are going to be waiting it out. I am just as upset about this as you are, but it's the sad reality we are faced with.
But you don't have to take it from me. You can take it from an expert, a booking agent for metal tours, Daniel DeFonce, of Continental Touring. When the COVID pandemic was starting, DeFonce was one of the first to immediately postpone his Devastation on the Nation tour not to later in the year, but just push it back one year completely to next spring. The tour was to feature Rotting Christ with Borknagar, Wolfheart, Abigail Williams, and Imperial Triumphant. Unfortunately for DeFonce, with these dates rapidly approaching, and the completely different world we live in, there are many factors that will prevent the tour from happening, so he's canceling it. And some of the reasons are pretty dire.
DeFonce wrote in a statement, when announcing the cancellation: "When we rescheduled the tour we thought that in a year everything would be okay again, but it still is not and we have no clear picture of what the future holds. More and more venues are closing down every month. This virus (COVID-19) has ruined everything for so many bands, musicians, and venues."
But DeFonce is a realist, he worries many of these venues won't even exist by next February: "Even if the tour were to still happen in February/March of 2021, how many more venues will be closed down? What will the capacity restrictions be for each show? How will 3 out of 5 bands from a different country survive here IF the borders reopen? It's impossible to know and at this point there is no light at the end of the tunnel."
DeFonce's message at the end of his statement should be a warning metal fans consider about all pending international acts coming to the States: "We will not reschedule again until we 100% know that it will be possible for the tour to happen and that the bands from outside of the US are able to come here."
Fans who purchased Devastation on the Nation tickets can get refunds here. If you purchased from a third party website, they recommend seeking the refunds there.
But even in a best-case scenario, with a vaccine available, and rapid testing deployed – it still might be incredibly difficult for international bands to come to America to tour. Besides COVID restrictions, new visa regulations have increased the price per person to enter the country. This will seemingly only allow larger acts to tour the country, and leave more of the obscure European bands priced out of touring America.
It might be quite a while until metal tours are "back to normal again" in America, sadly.
