Wow, this is sad news. This years War ina East has been cancelled by the promoter, Herbalize-It Sound.
Our biggest concern for the European Clash scene has been sadly made a reality. The last reservoir of love and dedication for supporting international clashes in this area of the world has vanished in a split second, and after many years of organizing successful clashes with increased trials and tribulations, we are forced to put War Ina East on hold until further notice. Herbalize-it is synonymous with being passionate, out-spoken and honest about the things we believe in, so it is only obvious we let the public know the main reason why we had no other option but to cancel the upcoming edition.
To put it simply, Economics!
The supply and demand rule of thumb has always been in our favour over the past editions, hence our astonishment when we saw how extremely low ticket sales have been up until this point, compared to the same period of past clashes. Just a handful of clash-fans secured their place for April 7th and even a monkey knows this indicates bad news on every level. God alone knows why so few of the many self-proclaimed clash lovers out there didn’t exercise their love for clashing and even more importantly, give their support in helping the culture survive. If you know why, we’ll love to hear. And yes yes we know like in the years gone by many tickets would be sold on the day at the venue. However, it would be absurd and irresponsible of us if we believed that on the night of the clash the attendance numbers would miraculously be sufficient to make the event realistic. Ticket sales have been way too low for us to take that risk.
After sitting with the venue to crunch the numbers and make a realistic portrait of the issue at hand, heavy disappointed hearts on both sides, the unbelievable decision was made to postpone, re-think, re-evaluate and re-plan! A very difficult decision especially after everything was organized with care and quality. Visas issued, flights and all the other intricates finalized, everything was ready! We said it before and would say it again, this is the nature of the beast! You could plan everything perfectly, but still…..
A deep apology and utmost respect goes out to Sentinel and Trooper. Two quality sounds showing true character and courage for keeping their cool and understanding this difficult situation. We must admit that Elmar at first was hesitant to take the clash and did warn us of the dying clash scene in Europe. But stubbornly in true Herbalize-it style and pattern we persevered and convinced him to participate. We refused to believe that the real clash-fans would not support a respected clash with a solid line-up. We were wrong. For this, we must again express a personal apology to Elmar and Sentinel.
Funny enough, there have been many many requests for a livestream or people wanting to know if there would be a live-stream for the clash. Internet, a double edge sword, advantageous in some ways, disadvantageous in others. The fact remains that its back to the drawing board for us. We are innovators but more than that we are believers. And we believe that this is not the end. We believe that their are people like us out there between all the fakers, who sincerely love this culture and want to see it once again thrive. At this very moment we are already in deep meditation for promoting local clashes and rivalries in various cities throughout Europe, and exchanging ideas with key promoters and organizations such as U-Club/ Riddim Clash on how we can jump-start the European Clash culture and build longevity.
To the fans that bought tickets, made plans, hotel reservations and to those of you who were planning to sort these things out in the upcoming days, we hope you understand this difficult decision and we appreciate your continued support. At the end of the day we do this for your fulljoyment, remember that!
We are very disappointed to have to break this news, but at the same time extremely excited and hopeful for the future.
We will be back, that you could count on!
Much Love & Respect
Herbalize-it
