The English rock band the Kinks staged their first concert tour of the United States in June and July 1965. The sixteen concerts comprised the third stage of a world tour, following shows in Australasia, Asia and in the United Kingdom and before later stages in continental Europe. Initially one of the most popular British Invasion groups, the Kinks saw major commercial opportunity in the US, but the resultant tour was plagued with issues between the band, their management, local promoters and the American music unions. Promoters and union officials filed complaints over the Kinks’ conduct, prompting the US musicians’ union to withhold work permits from the band for the next four years, effectively banning them from US performance.
The programme was in the package-tour format typical of the 1960s, with one show per day, several support acts on the bill and the Kinks’ set lasting around 40 minutes. Concerts were characterised by screaming fans and weak sound systems. The US press, which still largely viewed rock music as simple teenage entertainment, generally avoided reporting on the tour. Some shows were poorly attended, owing to a lack of advertising and promotion, leaving local promoters sometimes unable to pay the band the full amount they were due. A payment disagreement led to the band refusing to perform at the Cow Palace near San Francisco, and an argument over a union contract before a television appearance resulted in Ray Davies, the Kinks’ bandleader, physically fighting with a union official.
The relationship between Ray and the Kinks’ personal manager, Larry Page, was marked by continual friction. Bothered by Ray’s behaviour, Page departed to England in the tour’s final week, an action that the Kinks viewed as an abandonment. The band’s subsequent efforts to dismiss Page led to a protracted legal dispute in English courts. Unable to promote their music in the US via tours or television appearances, the Kinks saw a decline in their American record sales. Cut off from the American music scene, Ray shifted his songwriting approach towards more overt English influences. Ray resolved the ban in early 1969, and the Kinks staged a comeback tour later that year, but they did not achieve regular commercial success in the country again until the late 1970s.
