Well damn, looks like people are finally getting serious about this Coronavirus…
An Update on SXSW 2020. Please read our full statement here: https://t.co/P56nF8KFmE pic.twitter.com/ouJPKM9GNy
— SXSW (@sxsw) March 6, 2020
The city of Austin has canceled its annual South By Southwest music, film and technology festival due to concerns over the ongoing spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, which has now infected more than 100,000 worldwide and left over 3,000 dead.
The festival, which was scheduled to begin this Friday (March 13th), was facing a rising tide of cancellations from artists such as Trent Reznor and Ozzy Osbourne, as well as major companies like Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter and others. The three major record label groups were reportedly on the verge of pulling out as well.
With hundreds of thousands of attendees expected from around the world, SXSW’s cancellation is the largest single blow to the festival and live music industry since the virus outbreak started in China and spread around the globe. Austin Mayor Steve Adler declared a state of disaster on Friday (March 6th), with the city potentially facing a loss of more than $300 million from the festival’s cancellation.
The festival issued a statement on Twitter, saying, “This is the first time in 34 years that the March event will not take place . . . We are committed to do our part to protect our staff, attendees and fellow Austinites.”
Until this past week, the virus had mainly impacted the live scene in Europe and Asia. But with rising infection and death counts in the United States, the American industry has begun to see the effects. Miami’s Ultra Music Festival was indefinitely postponed on Friday while other events and tours were assessing the situation.
A New Zealand man who attended Tool’s February 28th concert at the Spark Arena in Auckland has tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus. As an advisory, the country’s Ministry of Health is urging other concertgoers to be aware of any symptoms they may have.
According to the New Zealand Herald, the unnamed man had recently returned from a trip to northern Italy, where the coronavirus outbreak is widespread. The man may have been infectious at the time of the concert, where he was situated in the front left quadrant in the general admission standing area. His partner has also tested positive, with both the man and woman currently in self-isolation.
Director-General of Health Dr. Ashley Bloomfield believes the risk to others in the audience is low at this time, but added, “There’s no way we could know which people were in that area. So, our advice to them is that they are casual contacts; they are at low risk.”
As of Friday (March 6th), more than 100,000 people have been infected with coronavirus worldwide, with at least 3,300 deaths. In the United States, there are around 200 confirmed cases, with 17 dead.
Tool will return to the U.S. for a handful of Pacific Northwest dates beginning Monday (March 9th) in Spokane, Washington. The band will kick off a full spring North American tour on April 16th in Miami.
We are celebrating the 20th anniversary of Hybrid Theory all year long and want you to be a part of it.
Upload your content to https://t.co/iQq1L76enS pic.twitter.com/3Irm7abvTV
— LINKIN PARK (@linkinpark) March 6, 2020
Linkin Park plans to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its 2000 debut album Hybrid Theory this year. The band’s surviving members issued a statement asking fans to help contribute to the project.
The statement read, “This year we are celebrating the 20th anniversary of Hybrid Theory. We have some special things planned throughout the year and want you to be a part of it.”
The group added, “We’re looking for photos, videos, ticket stubs, merch, flyers, souvenirs and anything else you collected from the early days of the band in the late 90’s through the Hybrid Theory era of 2000-2002. Some great examples include (but are not limited to) live concert footage and photos, pictures of band members and signed goodies from LPU meet and greets.”
We asked guitarist Brad Delson a while back if the band ever imagined what Hybrid Theory‘s success would mean to them: “Well, when we made Hybrid Theory, we certainly never expected it to be such a huge commercial success. Not only did it, you know, connect with people in such a massive way at the time, but it still resonates. It’s really surreal and it’s certainly a privilege for us to be able to continue to share not only those songs but songs that we’ve made throughout our whole career with such a dedicated and loyal fan base.”
Hybrid Theory was a massive hit when it was released in October 2000, moving more than four million copies over the course of its first year in stores and eventually becoming the highest selling debut of the 2000s. The LP is now certified Diamond by the MPAA and has sold more than 11 million copies.
Papa Roach singer Jacoby Shaddix has given Romania’s Rock FM an update on guitarist Jerry Horton, who is sitting out the band’s European tour after breaking two fingers in his left hand.
Asked about Horton’s status, Shaddix answered, “They put eight pins in his finger. So he’s actively recovering right now — he’s doing physical therapy. It should take five to six weeks for him to recover completely. He had to go in and get surgery, and they had to reconstruct his bone . . . For a guitar player, that’s very frightening.”
Horton recently surprised the band by showing up for a concert in Munich, Germany, with Shaddix saying, “(He) didn’t tell anybody in the band . . . he came and hung out with the band for a week. And that was really cool. It was good to see him. ‘Cause we’d never stepped on stage without Jerry — Jerry’s always been the guitar player.”
Shaddix told us a while back that Papa Roach gives everything it has when the band hits the stage: “That’s what it’s all about. I mean, we’re out there on the road and it’s about stepping on the deck and putting everything we have in our lives and leaving it there on the deck every night. And that’s the thing about this band that I think our fans love, is that we bring the ruckus live.”
Horton’s temporary replacement for the trek is Anthony Esperance, the brother of Papa Roach bassist Tobin Esperance, who’s been touring with the band as a back-up guitarist, keyboardist and singer.
Disturbed frontman David Draiman has confirmed that the band won’t perform its 2000 debut album The Sickness in its entirety on the upcoming tour commemorating the 20th anniversary of the LP’s release, which was on Saturday (March 7th).
Draiman explained to Billboard, “No, we won’t do the entire album, but we’re going to do a ton of Sickness material, deeper cuts, stuff people haven’t heard us play off the record for a while, and definitely a huge portion of material will be Sickness-oriented.”
The singer continued, “As a band at our level, at this point of our career, you can’t just go out and play one record because everybody came on board at different stations. They want to hear what they fell in love with.” Draiman did hint that the band may bring back “production elements” from the Sickness era in a “new and more provocative way.”
Draiman told us a while back that Disturbed is fiercely proud to be able to maintain its success years after releasing The Sickness: “In a genre which has faded from the limelight somewhat, where there aren’t many bands of our ilk left out there doing what we do at the level that we do it, we’re very proud to be able to be standing tall and still doing it and doing it as ferociously as we are.”
“The Sickness 20th Anniversary Tour” kicks off on July 15th in Maryland Heights, Missouri, hitting amphitheaters before wrapping up on September 12th in Auburn, Washington. Staind and Bad Wolves will serve as special guests on the tour.
Lastly, let’s wish a Happy Birthday to Elias Soriano of Nonpoint and the great Johnny Kelly of Type O Negative!
