Garbage frontwoman Shirley Manson has further expanded on the economics behind her announcement last fall that the band’s North American tour would be its last full-scale outing across the continent.
In a recent interview with NME, Manson explained why Garbage intends to use a different touring strategy going forward. “We have never said that we are stopping playing entirely — despite how some of the media has chosen to report on this,” she said. “We have made the decision that our touring will be a different model from here on out.”
“We did the maths. I think this is a fascinating statistic: we played about 40 shows in North America, and Billy [Bush, Manson’s husband] is such a nerd and did a bunch of equations to realise that we could have earned exactly the same amount from the entire tour if we’d only played 10 shows,” she continued. “That would have been approximately five shows on the East Coast, and five shows on the West [Coast]. Instead, we went into the middle of North America and toured all the way through it because we wanted to say farewell to a lot of the places we know we will never go back to because we can’t afford to go there.”
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Manson added, “So we would have earned the same amount [from] 10 shows as 40. Let that sink in. I don’t think the world has yet fully grasped how insane the economics are. I’ve said my peace [sic] on that and could go on and on!”
Reflecting on Garbage’s decades of touring, Manson revealed that the band once covered costs because they were “selling enough records at gigs to be able to afford a decent bus.”
She then expressed frustration with the current industry, saying:
“It’s a real state of emergency for musicians of a certain ilk. Of course the pop stars will continue to flourish, and long may that last. We need pop stars, they’re fantastic and fun.”
“But the kind of artists that are creating the work that’s original, esoteric… authentic, challenging, rebellious and furious, they are getting choked out by the current system. All we’re getting are the pop stars that are like puppy mills: cheap to produce, cheap to support and they make a big profit for the people in charge. That seems like a terrible squandering of generational talent.”
Last August, Manson announced Garbage’s 2025 fall run would be their “last North American headline tour.” A month later, she cited “the thievery of the record industry” as the reason the band had to “curtail our headline touring business.”
Garbage are currently prepping for a run of UK and Europe dates stretching from late March to mid-July. Get your tickets here.
For more on touring economics, read our own Jonah Krueger’s account of his band Six Flags Guy’s first substantial tour last fall.
