Bad Shepherds Tour cancelled - or maybe not?
I’d been looking forward to seeing Ade Edmondson and the Bad Shepherds with an acoustic lineup of Mostly Autumn as support; I had tickets for the Crewe and Manchester dates at the beginning of November. Sadly this afternoon I received an email from the promoter of the tour saying that the entire tour is cancelled.
There wasn’t an update on the Bad Shepherds website when I last looked, but some googling did turn up a news item on the Daily Telegraph Website stating that the tour was off:
The 27-night tour, which was due to start on Saturday, was pulled on Thursday.
The Bad Shepherds were due to play at the Halfmoon in Putney, south-west London, on Monday and Tuesday.
Told of the news, booking agent Kirk Barclay said: “That would be a major blow. They were booked a good couple of months ago.”
A spokesman for the band said: “Due to personnel changes The Bad Shepherds are not in a position to undertake the tour as advertised.”
This must be a big disappointment both for those members of Mostly Autumn who were taking part in this tour, and the many fans planning to attend.
It’s probably too early to tell, but there has been talk of Mostly Autumn salvaging a couple of gigs as acoustic shows on their own.
Still a bummer, though 
Urgent Update: According a posting on the official Mostly Autumn forum, the email that went out is allegedly a spoof, and this weekend’s two gigs at Pocklington in Yorkshire are still going ahead. I think it’s a case of “Watch this space”.
Further Update: The gig at Pocklington on Saturday 25th went ahead - there’s a review by Roger Newport that concentrates on Mostly Autumn, and another one by Chris Berendt which throws some light on what’s been going on. Still very much a case of “watch this space”.
Further Update: I spoke to the staff at Crewe Limelight last night (Sunday), and they told me the gig there on Monday 3rd Nov is still on. Comments left below, and from Twitter suggest that Frome and Liverpool Cavern Club are cancelled, but the one as Southhampton The Brook is still on. It’s looking as though it was the promoter rather than the band who’s pulled the plug, but the band are in negotiation with at least some venues directly.
Final Update:
Announcement on the Mostly Autumn website today
Mostly Autumn regret to tell you that it seems the Bad Shepherds tour has been cancelled.
We have no details at the moment and there has been no official statement but from conversations with the Bad Shepherds, there will be no more gigs after Pocklington.
As it is not MA’s tour and we have no confirmation on this we can only offer advice to get in touch with the Bad Shepherds. At this moment in time MA have no plans to play any more of the gigs.
That pretty much looks like it’s all over, as far as I’m concerned. I’m not interested in going to any gigs that might take place just to see The Bad Shepherds if Mostly Autumn will not be supporting, and will be asking for refunds.
October 27th, 2008 at 11:30 am
The Cheese & Grain in Frome have confirmed their date has been cancelled, a letter from Martin Dimery at the Cheese suggests others booked by one Promoter are also likely to be off.
Here is his mail to me:
Ken
Looking at other tour dates, it would appear (and this was implied at the last e mail we had from the promoter) that only those venues to have been booked by one specific promoter have been cancelled. Unfortunately, the Cheese and Grain show is one of those venues. I could try to re-negotiate a deal, but do not have a promotional budget to support any potential loss. To be honest, advanced sales were quite poor, and so we would be very unwise to attempt to rescue the booking, despite our annoyance at the cancellation. Also, on the basis that the whole tour was off, we authorised all refunds immediately.
Sorry – these things sometimes happen, and they often reflect badly on innocent parties.
Thanks for your info,
Best wishes,
Martin
Cheese and Grain
October 27th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Just checked the Bad Shepherds site and all the tour info has been taken off the site (13.19hrs Monday 27th Oct)
November 23rd, 2008 at 12:59 pm
The Cavern show has been replaced by one at Baby Blue, Albert Dock, Liverpool on Dec 14th. Tickets are £15 from www.accliverpool.com and 0844 8000 400. There is no support
November 23rd, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Since I was going as much to see the original support Mostly Autumn, I can’t say I’m going to bother with that one (They’ve got their own headline tour around then anyway)