“It’s Just a Cowardly Move” After Yet Another Show Gets Shutdown [Malaysia]

After yet ANOTHER show gets canceled in Malaysia, more and more promoters are not holding back their anger. “It’s just such a cowardly move. I’d actually like to go back to when opposing parties just threw punches to settle this stuff,” states Dean – vocalist of hardcore band KIDS ON THE MOVE and who handles booking overseas acts under the band ALT PLUS.

The backstory…as one of the many MANY American bands who have been heading to Asia this past year, SUNAMI’s Malaysia stop was abruptly called off. The issue? Once again, someone snitched on the show to the authorities and thus the promoter had no choice but to cancel the entire show. The fact that this type of cowardly act has become so normalized, is a huge issue. If you’re someone who is upset about a show, can’t get tickets, don’t like the promoter, and you think it’s OKAY to call the cops to just have the entire show get canceled all together is such a scum move. To be a “member” of your scene and then snitch on your very own scene? You’re scum.

Dean puts it more politely. “I always believe that scene growth / prosperity is a product of everyone working together. Venue/promoter – bands – community, these 3 rely on each other. When one breaks away, no one wins. What happened last night with Sunami’s show isn’t an isolated case. It’s no surprise, we don’t have a good relationship with authorities. So to get them involved in any form of discourse is always mind boggling. The impact goes beyond any disagreement you may have because it involves everyone and creates a chain of events that might affect all 3 parties. I am guessing that the person who snitched has never had a stake in the scene anyway. They just want to take what they want and leave when they are done. Beyond all these, I hope we can be mature and use a better platform or method to settle any discourse. Stop being a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

The promoters who have already forked out costs such as hotels, flights, hospitality, and pretty high artist fees is then left with  massive financial debt. Not to mention, the reputation of the scene as a whole takes a big hit as well.