Featured News

Stuart Galbraith: Tours may not return until April 2022

Kilimanjaro Live boss Stuart Galbraith believes it will not be safe to book major tours until April 2022, after writing off this summer.

Following the cancellation of this year’s Glastonbury and Coachella festivals in the last couple of weeks, Galbraith – whose company promotes Ed Sheeran concerts among others – said it is still not possible to plan for live events in major Western markets.

The former Live Nation UK supremo told BBC Radio 6 Music’s Liz Kershaw there is still too much uncertainty in terms of social distancing, travel and insurance to make major events viable.

“There is no insurance available at all, which is why so few shows are going on sale,” Galbraith said. “In the coming weeks we are going to see so many events scheduled for the spring and summer either cancelled or postponed. It’s just too risky.

“There will be nothing this summer. Autumn is still risky, and even moving into 2022 who’s to say we are not going to have some kind of COVID season in January, February and March? The safe money really is to postpone anything to April 2022.”

Galbraith said international travel restrictions mean that shows featuring domestic acts should return before tours featuring international artists begin once more. “We are blessed in the UK as we have such a huge amount of world-class talent,” he added.

Galbraith also said the challenges of international touring between the UK and European Union “will be sorted eventually”.

“Brexit has created some difficulties, but they are not live at the moment because of the restrictions,” he said. “Tours in Europe will continue to happen, but maybe not as much. It is true the Beatles played in Germany way before the UK was in the European Union, although that is quite different to modern day tours involving 100 trucks.

“However, I’m absolutely sure these matters, such as visas and trucking, will get sorted eventually.”