"Has anyone got a white Sprinter van outside? It's being robbed!": Band robbed at gunpoint on first day of tour - before they'd even "played a note"

As if circumstances weren't already difficult enough for bands heading out on tour in 2024, British indie act Sports Team have been faced with a nightmare scenario only hours into a series of US dates, being robbed at gunpoint before even playing a single show.

The morning after they'd landed in San Francisco on Monday, Sports Team frontman Alex Rice and his bandmates made a quick pit stop at a Starbucks in Vallejo, California. Minutes later, Rice told Sky News, they heard someone say "has anyone got a white Sprinter van outside? It's being robbed!"

The group returned to their van to find a robbery in progress. The masked thieves had smashed the passenger window and opened the car door, and one quickly pulled a gun on the band's tour manager.

"We all ran out, shouting," drummer Al Greenwood told the BBC. "Lauren, our tour manager, was slightly ahead of me, and somebody else ran past us in the opposite direction, and said, 'Careful, he's holding something.'"

"I really thought I was about to watch someone get shot, because it took a while for our tour manager to realise," she continued. "In the video, you can hear me screaming at her to get down."

Footage of the incident, filmed by another band member, has been shared to the band's Facebook page.

The police were called, but the band were reportedly told to file an online report and no officers were sent to investigate the incident.

Fortunately, though the robbers managed to steal a number of personal items including laptops and passports, the band's instruments and gear were safely locked away inside a fortified compartment in the back of the van.

The London-based band say that they intend to continue with the tour as planned, and will be performing a number of shows across California and Oregon throughout December.

"Lost a lot of personal gear, but they didn’t get the instruments so driving on to Sacramento to play tonight," reads Sports Team's Facebook post. "They can take our Nintendo Switches but they can never take our ability to play rock songs about motorways."