Garbage’s Shirley Manson Says No More Tours—Here’s Why

Photo Credit: Shirley Manson by Aeveraal / CC by 4.0

Shirley Manson of Garbage confirms the band’s current headlining North American tour will be its last, largely blaming the record industry’s “thievery” for the decision.

During alt-rock legend Garbage’s show in Washington, D.C., last week, frontwoman Shirley Manson spoke candidly to fans. The Scottish singer confirmed that the band will not put on another tour across North America again, citing the logistics of doing a headlining tour in the region have become too financially complex.

“We have as a band decided that, due to basically the economics of the music industry, that we have to curtail our headline touring business,” said Manson during a show on Wednesday, September 17. “It has, thanks to the thievery of the record industry, made touring very, very difficult.”

“We’re not complaining—we’ve had a fucking great run,” she explained. “I bring this up only because my concern is, of course, for young musicians who go out there and tour; they’re holding down jobs, they take two weeks off their work and they go around the country.”

“Sometimes they’re sleeping in their van, sometimes they’re staying in really, really dodgy so-called motels, and it’s dangerous, and it’s really unacceptable, and it really has to stop,” Manson added. “Whatever’s going on, it really has to stop. It’s unsafe, and it’s unacceptable.”

“So we have just decided that the economics have become untenable, so this is kind of the last time that we’ve decided we’re going to get on a bus and just tour all over North America,” she continued. “It’s a fantastic privilege, and it’s so beautiful and exciting and amazing. And all the more so because I doubt that we’ll do a tour this size ever again.”

Garbage’s current North American tour, Happy Endings, kicked off in April with 29 dates through November 14, with a final performance in Mexico City. The tour supports their eighth album, Let All That We Imagine Be the Light, which was released in May.