Until now, artists and their promoters have had to make applications for short-term visas entirely in Spanish, provide itinerary details before having even been given the green light for the tour to go ahead – including accommodation and flight allocations – and give proof of applicant earnings of up to nearly £1,000 before having left the country.
The development represents a significant boost for the sector which has, as a result of Brexit and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, seen European touring become more expensive, more complicated, and more difficult to execute from the UK. Read: UK government announces visa-free short term tours for UK musicians in 19 EU countries
The turnaround follows months of work from Live Music Industry Venues and Entertainment (LIVE) and the Association for British Orchestras (ABO), alongside their Spanish counterparts Asociación Promotores Musicales and key industry players including Live Nation Spain.Įarlier this year, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) had announced visa-free ‘short term’ touring in a list of 19 EU countries, from which Spain was omitted. Visas have been a significant issue for Spain which, despite representing the fifth largest live music market in the world, posed the most costly and complicated visa application process across the bloc for artists looking to travel for short-term work. He says all tickets for the planned tour will be automatically refunded and ticket holders “will be given priority to buy tickets for the stadium shows when they go on sale.” The tour had already been postponed twice as promoter Live Nation dealt with the fallout of COVID-19 on large gatherings.įuture dates and prices for the renamed After Hours til Dawn tour have yet to be revealed.Ī promotional image for the revamped tour mentions South America, Asia, Australia, Africa and the Middle East alongside regions that were charted for the original run of shows.Musicians touring to Spain from the UK will no longer need visas for short-term engagements. “Due to constraints of arenas and the demand for more shows I want to do something bigger and special for you which requires stadiums,” Tesfaye wrote on social media. However the artist, born Abel Tesfaye, announced on his Instagram that he wanted to move his tour to stadiums and is rescheduling the entire tour for next summer.
14 and 15, 2022.Īfter that, he was booked to play Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal, with more stops in the United States and Europe. The Toronto pop superstar was scheduled to begin a massive tour for his “After Hours” album starting with two nights in Vancouver on Jan. TORONTO - The Weeknd is refunding tickets for his already postponed world tour, telling fans he wants to invest in “something bigger” rather than move forward with the planned shows.