Darren Hayes Cancels Tour Date Due To Lower Than Expected Ticket Sales

Darren Hayes is preparing to embark on his Australian Do You Remember? tour, which kicks off on Tuesday, 31 January 2023, at Perth's RAC Arena, but before the fun begins, he regrettably has to cancel his Gold Coast gig at the Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Hayes will be celebrating 25 years of Savage Garden, performing the duo's hits like To The Moon And Back, I Want You, Affirmation, and The Animal Song alongside his solo tunes, Insatiable, Pop!ular, and cuts from his brilliant new solo album, Homosexual.

In a frank statement posted on social media, the I Knew I Loved You singer said, "As many of you know, since Covid-19, the live concert industry has been incredibly challenged and touring has become a financial and logistical nightmare for many musicians. Sadly, my upcoming Australian tour has been severely impacted by those challenges and as a result, we’ve had to make the terribly difficult decision to cancel the Gold Coast date on the Australian leg of my ‘Do You Remember?’ tour."

While Hayes and his team agonised over making the numbers work, they found that tour promoters TEG Dainty had been over-ambitious in booking some of the venues; "we simply hadn't sold enough tickets overall to break even and that was putting the entire Australian leg of the tour in jeopardy unless we made some changes."

Hayes added, "It was suggested to me to cancel several cities, or postpone the Australian tour altogether - but I refused to do that," acknowledging the fans who had booked flights from interstate and overseas to catch shows. 

"Usually when something like this happens, an artist will put out a polite, vague excuse like ’scheduling conflicts’ or ‘unforeseen circumstances’ but I have too much respect for you to do that. I’ve always been truthful and this is the reality of the music industry in 2022," Hayes wrote. He reminded fans that touring markets have changed since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and audiences buying tickets to shows are different now. 

"In the UK we had to add six more shows. Similarly in the USA, I’m about to add 4 more dates. For whatever reason this is the situation in Australia for many artists and we all have to evolve and adapt to these changing times." The Let's Try Being In Love singer ended the post by sending love to his fans.

Beloved Aussie songwriter Katie Noonan responded to his post and wrote, "Thank you for being so bravely honest. Heaps of friends have had to cancel shows due to ‘unforeseen circumstances’ here in Oz and the sad reality is that Australian audiences are not buying tickets to Australian shows… especially in QLd and WA…. sales are generally at about 50-60% of pre Covid figures." She added, "I believe it will take many years until the arts sector in Australia recovers sadly."

Hayes replied, "It's like a shameful secret everyone is trying to keep and we have nothing to be ashamed of."

If you like Savage Garden and Darren Hayes' solo music, consider going to a gig in your city. Buy tickets here.