New Kids on the Block have cancelled their seven-city Australian tour set to begin August 1 in Perth, “due to circumstances beyond their control,” promoter Andrew McManus said in a statement.
“The group is incredibly disappointed and very sorry they won’t be able to perform in Australia at this time. The guys are very grateful for all the love and support from their Australian fans,” the statement continued.
Other cities to be included on the tour were Adelaide (August 3), Melbourne (August 4), Newcastle (August 6), Brisbane (August 8), Sydney (August 10) and Wollongong (August 15).
New Kid Donnie Wahlberg, in a post on the group’s Web site, was more forthcoming, indicating the global recession as the cause for the cancellation.
“Our promoters, as well as our management team, worked incredibly hard to make an Australian tour a reality,” Wahlberg explained to Australian fans. “Despite warnings that the financial problems plaguing the world would compromise the Australian tour, they never gave up on this dream and neither did we.”
He continued, “However, we are, in fact, in the middle of a worldwide recession and we just cannot make [the Australian tour] work. That is the simple truth. We have exhausted efforts to tie in the Far East to Australia and find other creative ways to make this work. It is just too complex at this time. We can only assure you that when the recession’s stranglehold on the world’s economies eases up a bit, we will find a way to make this work.”
The group postponed the start of its summer tour from May 28 to June 4 due to production delays. Confirmed dates on the Full Service Tour itinerary run through July 18 in The Woodlands, TX, just outside of Houston, and the next show is tonight, June 18, at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT.
NKOTB was formed in 1984, broke up 10 years later and reformed in 2008, releasing their sixth studio album, “The Block.”