The Black Keys Part Ways With Managers After US Tour Cancellation

American rockers The Black Keys have parted ways with their managers, Irving Azoff and Steve Moir, just weeks after cancelling their 31-date US tour.

Billboard reports that a representative for Azoff called the split “amicable,” but representatives for Moir and The Black Keys—Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney—didn’t respond to comment before the article was published. The band signed with Azoff and Moir in 2021 after parting ways with their longtime manager, John Peets.

On 24 May, tour dates and ticketing details for The Black Keys’ International Players tour – which was set to take place across 31 dates from 17 September to 12 November – were removed from the Ticketmaster website without warning.

A few days later, the band took to social media and announced they would share revised dates shortly for a “similarly exciting, intimate experience.”

“We have decided to make some changes to the North American leg of the International Players Tour that will enable us to offer a similarly exciting, intimate experience for both fans and the band, and will be announcing a revised set of dates shortly,” the band wrote in a statement.

“Everyone who had purchased tickets and/or VIP to the initial tour dates will be fully refunded — and when the new plans are announced, will be the first to be able to buy tickets.

“Thank you for your understanding and apologies for the surprise change… We're pretty sure everyone is going to be excited when you see what we have in mind, though, and look forward to seeing everyone soon.”

As Billboard notes, speculation grew that ticket sales for the arena dates were moving too slowly, hence the cancellation of the dates.

Earlier this year, The Black Keys released their 12th album, Ohio Players. In April, they were cover stars for The Music, telling Steve Bell:

“We spent probably 150 days in the studio overall. We worked harder on this album than if you put all the studio time together for Brothers [2010] and El Camino [2011] and Turn Blue [2014] – this took longer than them combined!”

You can read the full cover story here.