Download Festival, which was set to take place in Sydney and Melbourne later this month, has officially been cancelled.
The announcement comes after headliners My Chemical Romance made the decision to abort their plans to come to Australia due to the current coronavirus situation.
Download Festival Australia 2020 has been cancelled after headliners My Chemical Romance were forced to withdraw due to concerns around coronavirus.
The festival said it was with “intense appointment” that they made the announcement. Speaking in a statement, My Chemical Romance described:
“To our dearest friends – It is with heavy hearts that we have decided to postpone our performances in Australia and New Zealand. We felt this was the right decision for our fans, our band, our crew, and our families given the current global situation. We apologize to our fans, but please know that we didn’t come to this decision lightly. Thank you for your understanding and we look forward to being with you all again as soon as we can. In the meantime, please be good to each other.”
In a statement of their own, Download Festival described:
“Given that this announcement has come barely 7 days prior to Download Australia we will not be able to secure an alternative headliner as there is insufficient time to secure visas and arrange the other relevant logistics that are required prior to the festival.
“As we are unable to deliver a complete line-up to meet the standard that Download fans both expect and deserve, we have very reluctantly made the decision to cancel Download Australia 2020.”
Download Festival was set to take place at Melbourne’s Showgrounds on Friday, March 20, and Sydney’s The Domain on Saturday, March 21.
“The Download team has been working around the clock to create an unforgettable experience for heavy music fans and we are devastated not to be able to deliver this show to Australian Downloaders as planned,” the statement continued.
The festival added that they were still working with My Chemical Romance and Deftones to organise separate headline shows in Australia sometime this year. On top of this, for the many artists who had official Download sideshows scheduled, the festival are working to add Melbourne and Sydney headline shows for next week, so keep your eyes peeled.
Anyone who purchased tickets to the festivals will receive a full refund including booking and payment processing fees. Moshtix will contact account holders on Monday, March 16 with more information.
In other news, My Chemical Romance have also cancelled all their upcoming Japan tour dates including an appearance at Download Festival in Japan.
