The Primitives Cancel Debut Australian Tour Dates

After a false start earlier this year, UK indie pop veterans The Primitives have been forced to cancel their upcoming debut Australian tour.

Having first formed in 1984, the band’s original eight-year tenure resulted in three albums and some moderate chart success thanks to tracks such as Stop Killing Me, Thru The Flowers, and Crash. Despite a slight appearance on local charts, the group never quite made it down to Australia in their initial run.

In 2009, The Primitives reunited, and have been touring consistently along with the release of new music. In 2023, the band announced they would at long last be making their way to Australia, plotting dates for Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne in March 2024, which would have seen 1988’s Lovely performed in its entirety.

However, in January, promoter Troubadour Presents revealed that “circumstances beyond our control” necessitated the postponement of these dates, with new shows eventually announced in September. Slated for February 2025, the updated tour had now been expanded to include Adelaide and Perth as part of its national run.

Now, The Primitives have taken to social media to reveal that the tour has once again been cancelled.

“We’re very sorry to have to announce that we will not be coming to Australia in Feb,” the group wrote last week. “This tour is not going to be rescheduled. Tickets will be refunded asap. Apologies to anyone that was looking forward to seeing us.”

While a graphic shared on socials explained that the cancellation was due to "unforeseen circumstances", the band added a comment to their post explaining that “it was the promoter's decision to cancel the tour not ours”.

“We very much wanted to play these shows,” they added. “Bottom line is though that it looks like we just don’t have a big enough following in Australia to warrant a tour there, or get anywhere near covering costs.

“Sorry again for the disappointment - we’re pissed off too.”

Though it remains to be seen whether any future attempts to tour The Primitives in Australia will take place, it seems the immediate future will not feature the band gracing local stages.