\u201cAfter 28 years on the road, 10 albums and well over 3,000 shows, it\u2019s time for a change,\u201d wrote Turner, announcing that his four upcoming \u2018Lost Evenings\u2019 gigs at Wembley Arena would be his \u201clast for the foreseeable future\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n As one of the UK\u2019s most prolific live performers (and once claiming to have broken the record for the most shows played in 24 hours<\/a>), the former Million Dead<\/a>-turned solo star said he was looking to \u201crecharge, spend more time with my friends and family, and explore other ways of life\u201d. Turner noted that \u201cthe economics of touring have gotten harder, the music industry has been swallowed by social media in a way that doesn\u2019t really interest me, and as I get older my physical and mental health could do with some care\u201d.<\/p>\n Enter Shikari then announced their own indefinite hiatus<\/a>, with plans to \u201cfall dormant as a recording and performing entity\u201d at the end of 2027. Among their reasons, including frontman Rou Reynolds\u2019 illness brought about while making recent album \u2018Lose Your Self\u2019<\/a>\u00a0and the \u201cpressures of the modern music industry\u201d, the four-piece spoke of the \u201cobvious negative impact on one\u2019s mental health\u201d when remaining active in a touring band. \u201cBut we do this because we love it,\u201d they added. \u201cAnd we are lucky enough to have built an audience who understand that the less-trodden path is sometimes the more interesting journey.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, it gets to the point where the often difficult terrain of that path starts to frazzle and drain the humble traveller.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking to NME about their decision to take a step back, Reynolds admitted that it was more a case of \u201cdeath by a thousand cuts\u201d rather than being brought on by one single issue, but said that \u201ceveryone knows the kind of trajectory that the industry is on\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cStreaming took away the income that was in physical sales (although we\u2019ve had the odd resurgence here and there) and now touring has become a lot harder in terms of income,\u201d he continued. \u201cMerchandise seems to be the last bastion, but then when you get to a certain level, some venues start taking increasingly larger and disgusting cuts<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe whole landscape just feels like it\u2019s getting tougher, especially when you think of new bands. All the pressures on new artists must be extremely tough to deal with, along with having to do all the self-promotion and social media.\u201d<\/p>\n Reynolds also found it telling that Turner would feel many of the same sentiments.<\/p>\n \u201cWe do know Frank, but we didn\u2019t know he was going to make that very similar announcement,\u201d the frontman told NME. \u201cThere are a lot of similarities between us. Frank hasn\u2019t shied away from being quite overtly political in his life, he tours extensively and relentlessly. After a certain amount of time, you\u2019re going to be gasping for air in whatever it is you do.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople quite rightly go, \u2018Oh, you\u2019ve got the best job in the world\u2019, and quite often it is, and I\u2019m so grateful for that. But quite often the pressures of it can absolutely destroy you.\u201d<\/p>\n The personal and emotional impact is as much a factor as the financial strains. Recent years have seen a number of mental health services set up to help artists and musicians through the \u201cpressure cooker\u201d of touring life<\/a>. This year, Radiohead\u2018s Philip Selway, Live Nation and the Music Industry Therapy Collective (MITC) launched the Pay It Forward Fund to make specialist mental health support<\/a> accessible for artists and crew on small and mid-scale tours.<\/p>\n Charli XCX recently responded to fans\u2019 frustration<\/a> that her \u2018Music, Fashion, Film\u2019<\/a> tour didn\u2019t feature more dates and territories by sharing her own struggles. \u201cI know there\u2019s a lot of frustration in the comments about the fact that I am not doing lots of dates. I am really sorry if you feel disappointed but I have to honour my truth as an artist: touring is really emotionally and physically hard for me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cI am not looking for sympathy and I have a huge amount of respect for artists who can handle it at an intense, lengthy and high octane level, but I am just not one of those human beings and I never have been.\u201d<\/p>\n CEO of the Featured Artists Coalition David Martin described Charli\u2019s words as \u201cquite visceral\u201d, spotlighting how the industry needs to remember that artists are human beings too.<\/p>\n \u201cArtists need to be able to make art and deliver art,\u201d Martin told NME. \u201cTo do that, you need the right conditions. Not everybody wants to be Ed Sheeran<\/a>. It\u2019s the individuality that creates the art. It\u2019s good that we\u2019re having this conversation, but we need to think about the business and financial side as well as the personal element.\u201d<\/p>\n Responding to Turner and Enter Shikari\u2019s recent announcements in light of their reputations as hard-touring artists, Martin said that the news reflected \u201chow hard it is to be out on the road\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt demonstrates how difficult it is behind the supposed glamour, and how much of a personal toll it takes,\u201d he went on. \u201cIt underlines several things we\u2019ve been lobbying on for several years about the challenges of touring. For a hugely successful live artist to say, \u2018This is really difficult for me\u2019, that tells you a lot about how hard it is to be on the road as well as the financials of that. We love these artists, but they are people with lives, emotions and personal things to deal with. It\u2019s far too often forgotten in the music industry that the art comes from individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n Martin added: \u201cIt\u2019s quite stark from someone like Frank Turner, when you think of the hundreds of shows he plays a year. It\u2019s good that they\u2019re talking about it. The positive thing is that we\u2019re gradually reaching a point of better awareness.\u201d<\/p>\n This comes after Garbage announced that they\u2019d be adopting a \u201cdifferent model\u201d of touring<\/a>, sharing that recent European dates and stops in certain UK and North American cities could be the last time they play there. Among their reasons were perplexing costs, along with the \u201cthievery of the record industry\u201d making it \u201cvery, very difficult\u201d to tour. Frontwoman Shirley Manson<\/a> expressed her fears for future generations of artists, too. \u201cYoung people deserve our protection and to be able to make a living from their creativity,\u201d she previously told NME<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s a real state of emergency for musicians of a certain ilk.\u201d<\/p>\n She added: \u201cI\u2019m not saying this for myself, I am golden. I\u2019m saying this as an elder in an industry that is punishing young people.\u201d<\/p>\n One such rising act to face these challenges is YouTuber-turned-rising pop-punk star Noahfinnce<\/a>, who said more established artists pulling away from touring was \u201cindicative of an industry-wide problem\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m lucky in that before I started touring, I had YouTube and social media stuff to fund it,\u201d he told NME, just hours before hopping on a bus for his first full UK tour in support of upcoming album \u2018Wonky\u2019. \u201cI struggled as someone who essentially had a separate job outside of this to fund it, so how the hell is anyone who doesn\u2019t have that surviving?\u201d<\/p>\n Noahfinnce, real name Noah Finn Adams, is one of the lucky recipients of the FAC\u2019s UKAT funding \u2013 a \u201cseriously game-changing\u201d pot of money via the Live Trust\u2019s levy of ticket money from arena gigs<\/a>. The cash was donated by the likes of Wolf Alice<\/a>, Radiohead<\/a>, Lorde<\/a> and Harry Styles<\/a>, with the aim of getting artists who can\u2019t afford to tour back out on the road. Before the funding, Adams said he couldn\u2019t imagine a future as a touring artist.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause I\u2019m autistic, I get incredibly burnt out,\u201d he shared. \u201cOver the past few years, that\u2019s what\u2019s been happening. I\u2019ll write an album and take time off from touring because I can\u2019t afford it at all, but also because I\u2019m just so tired.<\/p>\n \u201cBefore a tour, I\u2019d work my ass off to try and get people excited for it and to fund it, but after that there\u2019s always the thought, \u2018Oh, what if that was my last tour?\u2019 I\u2019m so exhausted from doing it that if I\u2019m not able to keep up with my work that funds the next one, then it creates this circle and cycle for this constant state of stress and anxiety.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Adams said that conversations about massive debt accrued from playing live were becoming more common among his peers. \u201cWhat comes with not being able to afford to tour is the shame that somehow you\u2019ve made a mistake, and this has brought together a lot of artists who wouldn\u2019t normally talk about it,\u201d he admitted. \u201cI don\u2019t know a single friend that does this and doesn\u2019t worry about spending money. Even with bigger artists, everyone has just got used to the fact that it\u2019s becoming more impossible to do the part of the job that is probably the most important.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can write a song, produce it, record it, release it and see the numbers go up, but as somebody who grew up going to shows and meeting some of my best friends there, it\u2019s just really a shame that live music as a whole is slowly disappearing.\u201d<\/p>\n Musicians are currently facing a perfect storm. Last year, it was announced that 84 per cent of UK independent artists couldn\u2019t afford to tour<\/a>\u00a0while more than half of UK venues made no profit, with more than 6,000 jobs lost<\/a>. Research showed that 1.5million young people across the country had given up on their ambitions of pursuing a career in music.<\/p>\n As well as the ever-rising cost of living, the ongoing impact of Brexit on artists\u2019 ability to tour and make money overseas <\/a>\u2013 with even the likes of\u00a0Jamie T unable to afford to play Europe<\/a> \u2013 there\u2019s the UK suffering from the \u201ccomplete collapse of touring\u201d<\/a> due to venue closures. The latter has left around 35million people without live music in their area or community. Ultimately, Adams argued that artists are met with \u201ca clusterfuck\u201d of hurdles ahead of them being able to play live at full scale.<\/p>\n \u201cWho it\u2019s hurting the most is the artists who just want to get their music out there,\u201d he argued. \u201cA decade ago, people who didn\u2019t live near major cities could have just gone along, picked up a ticket on the door, enjoyed it, met the artist, changed their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n He continued: \u201cThen there\u2019s how much tickets cost. I\u2019m not Taylor Swift<\/a> and I\u2019m not charging \u00a3300 per show, but in general everything is getting more expensive. I genuinely feel that a lot of people see going to shows as a luxury. Growing up, I would go and see bands for a tenner. The cost of living is insane right now, but there are also these unfair agreements for artists.\u201d<\/p>\n Imagining a better future, Adams said he hoped that the UK government might adopt similar ideas to Ireland, such as youngsters receiving vouchers<\/a> to attend shows and creatives receiving a basic income<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe they could also reserve some of the tickets for people on a lower income?\u201d he suggested. \u201cArtists would worry much less that the people who want to come to their shows can\u2019t afford it. In general, we need to put more emphasis on the fact that music is such an important part of our world. We\u2019ve taken that for granted, and now it\u2019s becoming less accessible.\u201d<\/p>\n Enter Shikari\u2019s Rou Reynolds said more could also be learned from the likes of Scandinavia and Germany, and how they support contemporary music \u2013 rather than the UK government\u2019s history of giving more funding to theatre, opera and ballet.<\/p>\n \u201cOften a lot of the money from a lot of these government funds just gets funnelled to the \u2018high arts\u2019,\u201d explained Reynolds. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the things we\u2019ve been talking about since day one: support for youth clubs and venues that are struggling.\u201d<\/p>\n As well as the FAC \u201creinvesting from the top of the pyramid into the grassroots and the niche scenes of the UK\u201d, the Music Venue Trust (MVT) has also been distributing levy cash from the Live Trust<\/a>. So far, MVT has distributed \u00a3500,000 to the grassroots to keep venues afloat and reverse the trend of closure. It is hoped that if more of the ticketing giants and live music companies contribute to the levy at the full scale<\/a> that was originally imagined, the grassroots of venues and artists can be supported in the longterm like the Premier League does with football. Meanwhile, Music Venue Properties has been buying the buildings to create a \u2018National Trust\u2019 of venues<\/a> protected from landlords raising rent.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are things that are about so much more than music; they\u2019re absolute bastions of community where every form of indiscriminate community has been slashed over the years of Tory austerity,\u201d added Reynolds. \u201cIt\u2019s a no-brainer that these are the places that need to be supported, especially if Britain wants to remain an absolutely outstanding fountain of artistry and creativity and everything that it\u2019s been for decades; you\u2019re going to need to support the new blood coming up.\u201d<\/p>\n While calling for more funding and attention to protect independent creativity, Reynolds optimistically told NME that he felt \u201ca resurgence of communal creative spaces\u201d and \u201ca return of a physical unifying magnetism\u201d was \u201cinevitable\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThere have been glimmers of this through an absolute backlash of people just sitting on TikTok<\/a> and trying to discover music, with all the breadth of the wonderful things that music gives you lost while completely alone just staring at a screen,\u201d he added. \u201cThat is not a real and truly needed human experience. That\u2019s not how we work. We are completely social creatures. Pro-sociality is our absolute superpower, and that\u2019s how humans took over the whole planet.<\/p>\n \u201cI do see a backlash and a return where it\u2019ll be local bands, artists, DJs, producers starting off in little scenes again, then it just becomes bigger and bigger. That natural way of growth will return.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/frank_turner_live.jpg\")
Frank Turner on April 18, 2025 in Southampton CREDIT: Mark Holloway\/Redferns)<\/p>\n![\"Enter](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/NMEAR_NME-READING-2025-ENTER-SHIKARI-LIVE-DEREK-BREMNER-28@2160x2700.jpg\")
Enter Shikari perform at Reading Festival 2025. CREDIT: Derek Bremner for NME<\/p>\n![\"Charli](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/charli-xcx@2000x1270.jpg\")
Charli xcx performs onstage during Spotify Presents: Music, Fashion, Film \u2013 Live in Nashville. CREDIT: Terry Wyatt\/Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"Garbage](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Garbage-at-Teenage-Cancer-Trust-at-the-Royal-Albert-Hall-CREDIT-John-Stead_Teenage-Cancer-Trust-7J0A.jpeg\")
Garbage live at Robert Smith\u2019s Teenage Cancer Trust gigs at London\u2019s Royal Albert Hall. Credit: John Stead, Teenage Cancer Trust<\/p>\n![\"Noahfinnce,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/noahfinnce_credit-Corinne-Cumming.jpg\")
Noahfinnce, 2026. Credit: Corinne Cumming<\/p>\n