Shai Hulud Cancel Australian Tour Due to Low Ticket Sales
It’s hard out there to be a touring musician these days. We’ve gone over all the difficulties that bands face when heading out on the road before, from rising costs to venue merch cuts and everything in between, shit’s difficult. Sadly, it’s forced some bands to put the kibosh on their touring plans, with New England metalcore act Shai Hulud being the latest example of this, as they axed their Australian tour that was set to start next month.
News of the cancellation began circulating last night after the band posted a statement on their Instagram page explaining why the tour was no longer happening:
“We’re really sorry to share this.
“After putting a lot of work into these shows, and despite members taking time off work and our agency running additional ads, ticket sales in some locations just didn’t come together in a way that made the risk manageable for us.
“With heavy hearts, we’ve made the difficult decision to cancel the Shai Hulud dates scheduled for January 2026. We’re genuinely sorry to everyone who bought tickets and was excited to be there with us. We were so looking forward to it.
“All tickets will be fully refunded.
“After a strong 2025, we want to keep building on that momentum and focus our energy on what helps Shai Hulud continue to exist and thrive.
“One thing we want to share openly: for bands doing international tours, pre-sales matter a lot. If you love a band and plan to go, buying early truly helps make these tours possible. We have seen success by taking the risk and going out there trusting that our fans show up on the day that we play. And, they do, sometimes to our surprise.
“But, with international flights being extremely costly and all of those costs coming up front it became a very difficult risk to manage for ourselves and our families.
“Thank you for supporting live music, it means more than you know, and even more now.”
That’s got to be an insanely difficult pill to swallow. Still, good on the band for making sure they’re taking care of themselves before potentially putting themselves in a possibly untenable situation.
If you’re in the U.S., you have an opportunity to see Shai Hulud live as they’re currently out on tour with Holder. You can check them out at any of the tour dates listed below.
Shai Hulud tour dates
12/16 Chicago, IL @ Cobra Lounge
12/17 Cleveland Heights, OH @ Grog Shop
12/18 Grand Rapids, MI @ The Pyramid Scheme
12/19 Buffalo, NY @ Electric City
12/20 Worcester, MA @ Palladium Upstairs *
12/21 Long Island, NY @ Amityville Music Hall
* = no Holder
