Blur was due to headline Australian music festival Big Day Out, marking their first performances in the country in 17 years. But with just eight weeks to go before festivities begin, the band has canceled their appearance, and they’re not holding back on who’s to blame for the decision.
A statement on the band’s Facebook page reads:
Devastated to report that Blur won’t be performing at BDO in 2014. It’s a shock that it has come to this.
Only 8 weeks to go, the band feels that with the constantly shifting goalposts and challenging conditions of the organisers, they can’t let it drag on any longer and want to make this announcement, to be clear to Blur fans that they won’t be there. We’ve done our very best to work with the organisers and considered every option to make it happen, but they’ve let us down and let everyone else down too.
Big Day Out, which is co-owned and promoted by Lollapalooza organizer C3 Presents, is considered one of the Australia’s biggest festivals, staging six different events across the country each year. The 2014 lineup still includes Pearl Jam, Arcade Fire, Major Lazer, Tame Impala, and more.
Photo by Ted Maider
