Hurricane Sandy Causes Multiple Concert Cancelations, Postponements

Hurricane Sandy grew stronger before dawn on Monday as it churned northward through the Atlantic Ocean en route to what forecasters agreed would be a devastating landfall, possibly within 100 miles of New York City. Accordingly, New York and New Jersey government officials have warned locals to stay indoors for large parts of Monday and early hours of Tuesday unless on essential travel due to the high speed winds and rising waters. Hence, it comes as no surprise that multiple concerts due to take place in the northeast of the U.S. early this week have been postponed or canceled as promoters and fans prepared for the disruptive and potentially devastating impact from the imminent arrival of Hurricane Sandy.

Among the concerts affected were John Legend, who called off his Sunday performance at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The xx postponed the upcoming residual dates of their current U.S. tour until 2013. In addition, Yasiin Bey canceled his Sunday show at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. Ghostface Killah and Sheek Louch called off their gig at New York’s Highline Ballroom as well as Grimes’ Sunday night show at Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg will not happen.

Music events in Philadelphia have been affected. The Rita Ora/Iggy Azalea/DJ Havana Brown show at the Trocadero and the Electric 6 show (with opening act Little Hurricane) at Milkboy were both canceled. Hurricane Sandy also forces many businesses in the area to shut down their offices, including Sony Music, which sent such a message to its employees earlier today.
It remains to been if the storm will have an effect on sales for artists whose releases still enjoy strong physical CD sales.