De-Tour: Hypocrisy and Aborted Drop Off North American Tour
Hope you weren’t too excited to see Hypocrisy on tour this May. The legendary Swedes have been forced to sit out their own tour due to a problem all too familiar to European bands trying to tour here: visa issues.
It’s usually easy to blame bands for not allowing enough time for visa paperwork to clear, but in this case it seems like it actually wasn’t Hypocrisy’s fault. A press release from their label Nuclear Blast cites the “current workload Homeland Security is experiencing” as the culprit for the delay, although it’s not clear if that workload was caused by the across-the-board sequester earlier this year, extra work due to the Boston Marathon bombings or what. Here’s the full statement from guitarist/vocalist Peter Tägtgren:
As we were getting ready to go get our visas stamped and ready for the tour we were informed that the earliest we could go initially was sometime in July. We then immediately continued to call them, got the label to help with some letters, and put our lawyer to work etc. The best that got us was an appointment in late June. This is a HUGE blow to us, to our fans and everyone who has supported Hypocrisy in North America. Sometimes there are battles you can’t win, and this is one of them. We will be back, I can promise that!
The press release also states that Aborted have dropped off the tour although no reason is given. My guess: Aborted didn’t think it would be worth making the journey overseas without the draw of Hypocrisy anchoring the lineup.
But the tour will go on: Krisiun and Arsis will forge ahead with openers Autumn’s End and Starkill in different markets. Here are the dates:
5/01/13 St. Vitus – Brooklyn, NY *
5/02/13 Palace – Stafford, CT *
5/03/13 Foufounes Electriques – Montreal, QC *
5/04/13 WreckRoom – Toronto, ON *
5/05/13 The Foundry – Cleveland, OH *
5/06/13 Reggie’s – Chicago, IL *
5/07/13 Station 4 – St. Paul, MN *
5/08/13 The Zoo – Winnipeg, MB *
5/09/13 The Exchange – Regina, SK *
5/10/13 Pawn Shop – Edmonton, AB *
5/11/13 Republik – Calgary, AB *
5/12/13 Branding Iron Pub – Armstrong, BC (ARSIS and STARKILL only)
5/13/13 Rickshaw Theater – Vancouver, BC *
5/14/13 Studio Seven – Seattle, WA **
5/15/13 Branx – Portland, OR
5/16/13 Oakland Metro – Oakland, CA **
5/17/13 The Vex – Los Angeles, CA **
5/18/13 Joe’s Grotto – Tempe, AZ **
5/20/13 Trees – Dallas, TX **
5/21/13 Korova – San Antonio, TX **
*with STARKILL
**with AUTUMN’S END
