“I had it happen with Whitney Houston as a result of the Gulf War,” said concert promoter Barrie Marshall, recalling the last time world events impacted the live music industry to such a degree that no European tour by a U.S. act had a guarantee of happening.

This time, it’s Janet Jackson who has canceled, and along with Destiny’s Child, they are the two latest major attractions to decide the current world situation makes it unsafe to tour Europe.

Jackson’s announcement came on October 10, adding it to a list that already included Weezer, Aimee Mann, and Collective Soul. Shaggy‘s U.K. dates have been rescheduled for February.

The widespread rumours last week that Blink-182 was canceling or postponing its dates were confirmed at press time. The tour, set to begin at Wembley Arena on November 3, has been postponed to next year, beginning at Wembley on January 10.

The Janet Jackson tour was due to start at the Stockholm Globe on October 31 and would have played most of the major European arenas before hitting the U.K. in December.

“My European fans are among the most loyal and I was excited to share this show with them,” Jackson told her fans. “I have agonized over this decision. Like most people, the events of September 11 have troubled me enormously and I remain concerned about the foreseeable future. If anything happened to anyone on this tour, I could never forgive myself.”

Although she is believed to be considering a tour of Europe next year, ticket holders are being asked to pick up refunds. Basically, that means the dates are canceled rather than just postponed.

The reprisal attacks in Afghanistan make it highly likely that only the most courageous acts will want to play live shows in Europe or venture far from the homeland in this political climate.

Germany

Members of the German band Landser were arrested in Berlin by the police due to an infringement of hate and violence law against minorities. According to the Federal Prosecutors Office, the band uses lyrics marked by “racist, nationalistic and anti-Semitic hate tirades.”

The office is also in charge of investigations regarding the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

The German neo-Nazi movement rose sharply over the last decade and has increasingly become a focus of the intelligence services. Nationalistic rock concerts and records are promoted in underground circles.

When the U.S. began its military action against the Taliban in Afghanistan, a small group of protesters gathered in Berlin. Their demonstrations were stopped by police.

R.E.M. and Kylie Minogue confirmed live appearances for the MTV Europe Music Awards in Frankfurt’s 13,500-capacity Festhalle November 8. Because of the cancellation of the Janet Jackson European tour, the music station booked the two acts for the lineup.

Destiny’s Child, Dido, Craig David, Depeche Mode, Rammstein, and Blink-182 were set to play, although Destiny’s Child is unlikely to show and Blink-182’s tour has been rescheduled.

MTV sold more than 3,000 tickets for the show. The remainder was due to be sold by Eventim starting October 12 on the MTV.de Web site.

Australia

It was no secret that while Savage Garden singer Darren Hayes loved the spotlight, guitarist Daniel Jones preferred the anonymity of the studio or sailing on his yacht. In fact, the second album, Affirmation, was almost scrapped on the eve of its release because Jones couldn’t bear to deal with the promotional treadmill.

Hayes finally had to promise that he would handle all the promotion. He resented that decision partly because it was such hard work and partly because he felt that the album would have done better with more promotion (it sold 8 million copies, compared to 2 million for the debut).

After the band finished its world tour in South Africa in December 2000, the plan was to take a break and regroup in a few years. Hayes wanted to work on his electronic solo album, Spin, while Jones set up a record label, Meridienmusik. Its first signing, Aneki, a pop duo featuring ex-Savage Garden backing vocalist Jennifer Waites and dance producer Grant Wallis, had a Top 30 hit.

In recent weeks, the pair exchanged e-mails on various issues. So you can imagine Jones’ shock when his father rang him one morning to say the local TV station in Brisbane was running a bulletin about the band’s split. TV and radio had picked it up from a newspaper interview that Hayes had done where he declared the band was no more.

An embarrassed Jones had to ring Hayes, who lives in San Francisco, to get confirmation, and then call a press conference. It was Jones who, in 1994, put an ad in a magazine for a singer.

Savage Garden sold 20 million albums in four years. It brought back glam-pop, and mentor John Woodruff said that one of the reasons for the band’s success was that when it came to shooting a video, it would name the 10 best directors and have an intimate knowledge of their last five clips.

The band’s “Truly, Madly, Deeply” and “I Knew I Loved You” topped the charts in the U.S. In Australia, in 1997, it won a record 10 trophies at the ARIA music awards.

Speaking of which, Powderfinger and dance act The Avalanches stormed the ARIA Awards, held at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney on October 3, with six and four wins, respectively.

One of the moving moments of the night came when INXS was inducted into the ARIA Hall Of Fame by its good buddies – singer Jenny Morris and Australian cricket team captain Steve Waugh. Afterward, guitarist Tim Farriss told POLLSTAR that the band was intending to record fresh material next year. “We’re going to be a garage band again, go into someone’s garage and rehearse.”

The night was known for its highs as much as it was for missed opportunities. Nile Rodgers was to play with Tina Arena when she previewed her new single, “Soulmate #9,” which Rogers produced. At the last minute, the guitarist decided not to fly out of New York.

Country singer Kasey Chambers and rock band The Living End were to do a duet. But due to injuries that End guitarist Chris Cheney sustained in a car accident, the band dropped out. Chambers performed with keith urban, who was given a special achievement award for his success on the U.S. country charts.

For the fifth year in a row, silverchair won Channel [V]’s artist of the year award at the ARIAs. The group didn’t attend the awards as it was in the studio working on its next album (although bassist Chris Joannou attended some post-award parties with girlfriend Sarah McLeod of The Superjesus). The band expects to complete its still-untitled album by the end of October..