Kansas cancels the whole european tour

 

I was at a concert at a reasonable-sized, well-known venue in London last night and there was absolutely no security. There was a sign up saying you could only take one bag in per person but they only checked tickets on the door.

After the news in Manchester, I suppose that KANSAS made a good call in terms of cancelling their tour.

But I have mixed feelings. 

It's easy to see why a group of folks would target some of the women in concert, when they are half dressed/undressed, and not covered ... is my senile way of looking at things, and seeing those concerts as a huge commercial potential and result is obviously a very big threat that will (eventually) split up the younger folks that know, or have seen the rest of the world. 

Thus, in many ways, I would rather the band went on their tour and say something nice and polite, and maybe send a nice prayer, or song, to those that have died ... because they loved music! Instead, the band cancels it all.

If this was (basically) due to the lack or sales in various places that were putting the whole tour on financial strains and straits, that's understandable ... but it should be ackowledged, rather than hidden, I think! However, that is my call, not the band's.

I'm not sure, that a rock concert is any safer than a soccer stadium in Europe, or a football stadium in America ... but the financial side of it, is something that you and I are not exactly aware of to be able to know/understand the reasons a bit better. 

But seeing what happened last week, is sort of like saying ... I told you so ... and that is kinda scary ... even though I do not think that KANSAS has any more chances of getting attacked, any more than many European bands that have a much stronger and louder political content, than we usually accept ... I'm, pretty sure we don't want Osanna, or Savage Rose ... or a few other bands ... get ripped apart the same way a concert did in England! Or worse, have one of our favorite bands, get torn up ... which makes Roger Waters, a very visible target, doesn't it?

It's scary stuff, but it's like school shootings in the US - they make a lot of media noise, but the chances of you personally getting caught up in it are remote. Nobody reports the thousands of US schools that didn't have a shooting today, nobody reports the millions of people in Europe who weren't involved in a terrorist attack today - same principle. It was much the same when the IRA were still actively bombing places.

(Incidentally, don't listen to Nigel Farage when he claims that a terrorist bombing in Manchester would have been unthinkable 20 years ago. Not only was it decidedly thinkable, but it actually happened - it was one of the last major IRA bombings before the peace deal.)