festivals
Australia’s Falls Festival Will ‘Raincheck’ Due to COVID-19
The 2020/2021 edition of Australia’s Falls Festival has been shelved due to the pandemic. Falls Festival, one of Australia’s biggest annual touring fests, was meant to go ahead with multiple dates on either side of New Year’s, featuring an all-Australian lineup. Those plans, however, proved too optimistic. “Falls Festival will no longer be taking place this year,” reads a statement from Falls Festival producers Jess Ducrou and Paul Piticco. “In May, as the nation seemed to be moving into recovery mode, we were optimistic about forging ahead and supporting our local industry with an all Aussie edition of Falls Festival,” the message continues. “We were especially excited to reunite many live music fans, get industry crew back on the job, and contribute to the economies of the co...
Find Out Who’s Performing at the (Virtual) 2020 iHeartRadio Music Festival
The 2020 iHeartRadio Music Festival is officially a go. On Tuesday (July 21), iHeartMedia announced that the tenth annual iteration of the event will be held virtually this fall. Among the performers set to take the stage are BTS, Coldplay, Kane Brown, Khalid and more. Hosted by Ryan Seacrest, the festival will be recorded live from venues in both Los Angeles and Nashville with behind-the-scenes moments about how the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has impacted the music industry on a personal level for the artists performing. “It’s hard to believe that this September will be the 10th iHeartRadio Music Festival,” said iHeartMedia chief programming officer Tom Poleman in a statement. “The 2011 Festival was iHeart’s first national marquee event and became the model for our hugely su...
Tones And I, Benee, Hayden James & More Top Yours & Owls 2021 Festival
BRISBANE — The end of the pandemic is still a long way off, but the summer festivals season is already starting to take shape Down Under. Tones And I, Benee, Cosmo’s Midnight and DMA’S lead the bill for the Yours & Owls 2021 fest, due to take place Jan. 23-24 in Stuart Park, Wollongong, about 90 minutes drive south of Sydney. Lime Cordiale, whose new album 14 Steps To A Better You, is the best-seller on Australia’s albums chart this week, is also booked for the show, alongside PNAU, Hockey Dad and many more. Yours & Owls is the festival template of the future or, more specifically, until a vaccine is widely available. With rigid quarantine restrictions placed on any visitors to these parts, international acts won’t be playing Australian stages anytime ...
The Strokes, Tyler The Creator & Gorillaz Confirmed for Splendour in the Grass 2021
The 20th anniversary edition of Australia’s Splendour In the Grass is more than a year away, though festival-fans just got a taste of what’s to come. On Monday, organizers confirmed Tyler, The Creator and The Strokes have signed up for the rescheduled Splendour dates, now set for July 23-25, 2021. Also, virtual British band Gorillaz will slot into the top of the bill. The Damon Albarn-led project replaces Flume, who was originally booked for Splendour’s 2020 edition, but isn’t available for the new dates in 2021. It’s something of a “Feel Good Inc” development from Splendour’s producers Jessica Ducrou and Paul Piticco, who had tentatively pushed back this year’s show by three months to October 2020 due to the pandemic. Last month, Ducrou and Piticco conceded those plans couldn’...
Jay-Z’s Made in America 2020 Canceled Due to Pandemic
Jay-Z’s annual festival in Philadelphia, Made in America, won’t take place Labor Day weekend due to the coronavirus pandemic. In a statement Wednesday, the rap mogul’s Roc Nation company said it plans to produce the popular festival in 2021. “2020 is a year like no other. We are in a pivotal time in this nation’s history. Collectively, we are fighting parallel pandemics, COVID-19, systematic racism and police brutality. Now is the time to protect the health of our artists, fans, partners and community as well as focus on our support for organizations and individuals fighting for social justice and equality in our country. Therefore, the Made In America festival will be rescheduled for Labor Day Weekend 2021,” Roc Nation said in a statement. {“nid”:”8528889″,”t...
Pearl Jam Remember the 2000 Roskilde Festival Tragedy: ‘Nothing has Been the Same Since’
Pearl Jam have paid tribute to the lives lost on the 20th anniversary of the Roskilde Festival tragedy. The Seattle rock legends shared a solemn post to mark 20 years since that fateful day, when nine young men were crushed to death during their set at Roskilde, held near Copenhagen in Denmark. “A normal festival show day…show up 5 hours ahead. Wait for your slot. I barely remember it…” the post reads. “Sunny, I think. Lou Reed played, I think. Then rain and wind. But nothing has been the same since.” An accompanying clip features nine flames set to a black background, soundtracked by a live snippet from Pearl Jam’s “Love Boat Captain,” a 2002 song which references the tragedy. In the live cut, frontman Eddie Vedder tweaks the lyric to reflect the march o...
Which Rescheduled Music Festival Are You Most Excited to Go to in 2021? Vote!
Coronavirus claimed music festival season, and regardless of festival organizers’ virtual events making up for the year in waiting, music lovers have been plotting their returns. The Manchester, Tenn.-based Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival joins the long list of live music events rescheduled for 2021 today (June 25). The San Franciso, Calif.-based Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival also announced the cancellation of this year’s three-day celebration yesterday (June 24) with Lizzo, Tame Impala and The Strokes set to headline next year. Promoter Goldenvoice pushed back both the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and Stagecoach Festival in Indio, Calif. from April 2020 to October to now April 2021, a full calendar year behind due to the COVID-19 pandem...
Riot Fest 2021 Set With Headliners My Chemical Romance, Smashing Pumpkins & Run the Jewels
Chicago’s Riot Fest 2020 has been scrubbed, due to the health crisis. But the multi-day festival will return next year with a bill headlined by My Chemical Romance, Smashing Pumpkins, Run the Jewels and Pixies. Also confirmed to the 2021 lineup are Coheed and Cambria, Taking Back Sunday, Sublime With Rome, Dirty Heads and Lupe Fiasco, performing The Cool in full. The 2021 edition will take place Sept. 17-19, 2021 at Douglas Park, almost a year to the day from the scheduled 2020 show (originally set for Sept. 11-13). A first of three waves of performers 50 acts is announced with Vic Mensa, Living Colour, Big Freedia, Toots and the Maytals, Best Coast, L7, Gogol Bordello, and many more on board. “If you already have your 2020 ticket, you’re in luck, it’s good for 2021,” reads a stateme...
Coachella Announces 2021 Dates After Cancellation News
Now Coachella is being planned for April 9-11 and April 16-18, 2021, and Stagecoach is scheduled for April 23-25, 2021. Following news Wednesday Coachella and Stagecoach festivals’ October dates were canceled by county health officials, promoter Goldenvoice announced new dates on Thursday (June 11) in 2021 for the Indio, California, events. Now Coachella is being planned for April 9-11 and April 16-18, 2021, Stagecoach is scheduled for April 23-25, 2021. Coachella’s 2020 edition was previously scheduled to take place April 10-12 and April 17-19 with headliners Travis Scott, Frank Ocean and Rage Against the Machine. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, it was then pushed back to the weekends of Oct. 9-11 and Oct. 16-18 and Stagecoach was moved to Oct. 23-25. R...
Coachella, Stagecoach Music Festivals Pushed to 2021
The events were already rescheduled from April to October, as plans for a return next year still remain unclear. The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and country music festival Stagecoach will not take place this year due to county and state restrictions. Riverside County Public Health Officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser told the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday (June 10), the festivals would not be held in Indio, California, this October — as had been planned when promoter Goldenvoice was forced to reschedule from their original April dates last March due to the coronavirus pandemic. Kaiser cited California Gov. Gavin Newsom‘s four-step outline for re-opening the state as the reasoning behind the decision, noting music festivals are not permitted to reopen until a...
Rave Family to Host Star-Studded Digital Festival, Electric Blockaloo, in Minecraft with Diplo, Jauz, Getter, and More
With major festivals moving to a digital landscape for the foreseeable future in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, promoters, organizers, and artists have been finding some interesting and unique ways to make the virtual event experience more memorable than a straightforward livestream. Thankfully, Rave Family has just the recipe for such an experience, within the world of modern video game classic Minecraft. Enter Electric Blockaloo, a virtual festival featuring over 300 artists, recreations of real life and fictional venues, mini games, and more, all taking place on Minecraft servers. Fans are able to play and attend on desktop or mobile computers via links to artist “guestlists” that will be shared via social media, and pay a GA or VIP admission charge for ac...
How We Work Now: Duck Club Presents/Treefort Music Festival Co-Founder Eric Gilbert
In a new series amid the coronavirus pandemic, Billboard is asking individuals from all sectors of the music business to share stories of how they work now, with much of the world quarantined at home and unable to take in-person meetings, attend conferences or even go into the office. Submissions for the series can be sent to HowWeWorkNow@Billboard.com. Read the full series here. This installment is with Eric Gilbert, co-founder of Duck Club Presents and Boise, Idaho’s Treefort Music Festival. Eric Gilbert: Treefort was scheduled for March 25-29 and we [initially] postponed it two weeks. At that point, the state nor the city hadn’t really done anything. We made the decision in consultation with them, but we had to take the lead on that. Two weeks after we postponed, the state fully s...
