The euro no longer rocks Metallica and the Red Hot Chili Peppers

[T_i_B]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/dec/07/euro-metallica-red-hot-chili-peppers-jay-z

To truly understand the gravity of the eurozone crisis, you need to look not just at oscillating stock markets and national credit ratings, but at decisions being taken some distance from trading floors and international summits – by the rock bands Metallica and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Or rather the two-man team that sees to their management, and has now decided that the prospect of Europe tumbling into economic chaos is enough to entail a drastic rewriting of their tour plans.

Both groups are managed by a company called Q Prime, commanded by the music business veterans Peter Mensch and Cliff Burnstein. The former is the husband of the Tory backbencher Louise Mensch; back home in the States, the latter used the Wall Street Journal to serve notice this week that Metallica and the "Chilis" were now set on visiting Europe next year as opposed to 2013, lest they lose millions if the euro goes even further south.

For those Europeans fearing the worst but being comforted by, say, the Chilis' rather underwhelming latest album, I'm With You, the likely projections seem simple: if you live in such comparative pop-cultural deserts as Italy, Spain, Greece or – pardonnez-moi, but they've never been much good at rock music – France, 2013 may mark the beginning of a long period of frustration.

For the British too, a large-scale American no-show will have serious consequences. During festival season in particular, US musicians tend to bundle up their European and British engagements into one big busman's holiday, and then return home with enough money to tide them over till Christmas. If big acts decide to stay away, the silence – particularly at the metal and hard-rock end of the market – will be deafening.