The Boys Tour Cancelled by Chinese Government

The Boys arrived in Shanghai in January 2015 to embark on a nine-date national tour to promote their new album "Punk Rock Menopause" only to discover that the tour was to be cancelled by the Chinese Ministry of Culture. 

The official reason given was "crowd control and security issues" in the wake of the Shanghai stampede at a riverside New Year celebration attended by around 300,000 in which 36 people were killed and 49 injured. The Ministry of Culture had sent letters (pictured) to all the venues on the tour telling them that if The Boys played there, their premises would be shut down with immediate effect. 

Undeterred, and with the help of their friends in China, the band managed to play three secret underground gigs – two in Shanghai and one in Beijing. These were promoted entirely by word of mouth and carefully avoiding official Chinese chat rooms and social networks such as Weibo. 

In addition, the band gave multiple interviews, were the subject of a one-hour documentary on a national TV channel and recorded a live album, which will be released later this year.