At least two cities in Russia canceled pro-war singer Shamans concerts due to low ticket sales for hisVictorytour, the independent news outlet Agentstvoreported Friday.Shaman kicked off his 100-city tour on Red Square last month, with plans to perform in Ukrainian cities occupied since Russias invasion.
The singer said he aims to program his audience to think about Russias victory over Ukraine, more than two and a half years into the war.However, his scheduled performances in Nizhny Tagil on Sept.
24 and Magnitogorsk on Oct.
3 were canceled over what organizers described as technical reasons.
The independent investigative outlet Agentstvo reported that only half of the tickets had been sold for the Nizhny Tagil show, and there was not much hype surrounding the Magnitogorsk event.These cancellations follow backlash over Shamans high performance fees, including a 16-million-ruble ($172,500) concert in Orenburg on Aug.
30, which drew criticism after the region was devastated by floods in the spring.Earlier this month, authorities in the Stavropol region canceled another of Shamans shows and required him to refund 15 million rubles to the regional government.Agentstvo also noted that Shamans concerts in the cities of Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, and Tver are at risk of being canceled due to poor ticket sales, while performances in Perm, Kurgan, and Tyumen are either sold out or close to it.TV ratings for Shamans performances have reportedly been lower than other popular programs.