Anthrax Drop Off Wacken, Reportedly Cancel European Tour Due to “Logistics”

Thrash metal pioneers Anthrax have canceled their Wacken appearance and reportedly canned their summer European tour due to logistical issues, according to a post from the festival.

“We sadly must announce today that the mighty Anthrax won’t make it to Europe and hence also not to the Holy Ground due to logistics.

“Sure you know that WOA and Anthrax have a long-lasting friendship, so you can be certain that they will be back on stage before you know it!”

This isn’t the first time that Anthrax have canceled a tour due to these issues. Last year, the band called off their European gigs because the costs of touring and other issues became too much to work with. At the time, bassist Frank Bello explained the situation:

“When we originally planned everything, as we do — Anthrax has been in the U.K. and Europe forever, we have toured there; we have a great big fanbase there, and we love playing for them — we did a budget, as we do, the year before and before we put the shows on sale. After COVID, when everything went crazy, money-wise, financially it wasn’t feasible to do it anymore. When I saw the numbers, they were literally triple — triple to what they originally started at. We would be coming home at such a loss — you don’t mind a little bit of a loss just to play to the fans — but such a loss, we would have been really bad off for a while. So it didn’t make sense. When [we] looked at it, we said, ‘All right. There’s better times ahead.’ And that’s the way to look at it now. Look, heating costs and everybody’s gotta put food on the table. I get it right now. So it’s just a really hard time for everybody.

The rising costs of touring don’t seem to be going anywhere and it’s only going to affect more bands we love, if the last year is any indicator.