Crows cut eight tour dates

Management for Counting Crows said Monday a scheduling conflict stemming from recording dates and the recent international crisis contributed to the band's cancellation of a scheduled Oct. 30 performance at the IU Auditorium. The concert was sponsored by the Indiana Memorial Union Board, who announced the cancellation Friday afternoon, shortly after the public ticket sale began at 10 a.m.\nPaola Palazzo of Creative Artists Agency, the booking agent for the tour, confirmed Monday the band had canceled eight dates between Oct. 26 and Nov. 7. As of Monday, the band still had 12 dates scheduled between Oct. 6 and Oct. 23.\nMichael Meisel, a representative of Counting Crows' management company GAS Entertainment, pointed out that Bloomington was not the only show canceled. \n"IU was not singled out," Meisel said. "We tried to cancel shows that hadn't gone on sale -- IU was the only one that had gone on sale."\nUB Concerts Director Andy Proctor, a senior, said a misunderstanding between UB and the band's management resulted in the cancellation being announced after tickets went on sale.\n"(GAS Entertainment) had thought that it was going on sale Saturday, so they were hoping we could cancel it ahead of that," Proctor said.\nProctor estimated about 2,000 tickets were sold between the Internet pre-sale Wednesday and Thursday and Friday morning's public sale. Refunds have been available at points of purchase since Monday morning.\nNo deposit was paid to the band. UB President Vaughn Allen, a senior, described the financial loss as "minimal."\n"No ads were placed -- it's far enough out that there really wasn't any financial commitment," Allen said.\nHe emphasized the decision was not UB's.\n"It's absolutely out of our control," he said.\nCounting Crows planned to come to Bloomington two years ago, but was unsatisfied with the Auditorium's policy preventing seating in the orchestra pit in front of the stage. That policy has since changed.\nIU's largest student programming board, UB receives a portion of the Student Activity Fee and is responsible for bringing performers and lecturers to campus.\nBloomington has been plagued by concert cancellations in the last several years. In October 1999, a UB-sponsored performance by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers was canceled the night before the show. Concert organizers cited "production difficulties" in erecting the band's stage set. Less than one week later, a Delta Tau Delta sponsored show featuring The Bloodhound Gang was canceled because of a scheduling problem. In April 2000, the MTV Campus Invasion tour featuring Bush and Moby canceled a Bloomington stop four days before the event. The show's promoter, Rock 'n' Roll Productions, Inc., is still in litigation after some ticket holders failed to receive refunds.