News just out that the latest Hostess Club Weekender is a no go took many by surprise, especially given the event’s previous spur of the moment cancellation.
Back in May, Japan-based organizers Hostess Asia announced shows in Singapore and the Philippines that would have featured acclaimed indie names including American singer-songwriter Cat Power and New York trio Blonde Redhead. Due to technical complications the two events were pulled three days before they was set to take place. The Japanese and HK dates still happened.
Looks like more of the same in this instance, however this time the entire tour is being pulled. Classic case of “visa issues”, as you can see in their Facebook post below.
The Hostess Club Weekender takes place in Tokyo three times per year and typically features around ten international artists. Select artists then go on the road as part of the Hostess Club tour, visiting Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul, Manila and more recently, Singapore.
The series is run in partnership with Ynos, which was started by Asia music industry luminary Andrew “Plug” Lazonby. Ynos operates as a sister company to Hostess Entertainment (notice how Ynos is Sony backwards).
Luckily we hear Wild Beasts will still be making it in to China as part of their Asia tour.
Quite how this will affect the onward progress of the Hostess Weekender is anyone’s guess. They have already announced the February 2015 event, but with 2 major cancellations in 4 months, there must be doubts about the ongoing viability of the platform.
Traveling a multi-act bill through Asia has always been an ambitious project. Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, HK and Singapore are all very different countries with markedly different tastes in music. Still, it was great that all these countries were getting exposure to some of the world’s best bands. Let’s hope that it continues in some form or another.