Kings Of Leon Forced To Cancel Firefly Festival Show Due To Tropical Storm Bill
Kings of Leon were backstage at the Dover, Delaware, Firefly Music Festival, getting ready to go on, when extreme weather caused the festival leaders to cancel the day of shows. The cancelations were due to remnants of Tropical Storm Bill.
Over 90,000 fans attending Firefly were told that “dangerous, inclement weather is coming” and to “please clear the festival site.” They were told to stay inside their cars for the remainder of the storm, while a tweet indicated that they needed to remove their pop-up tents, poles, and canopies.
Campers, please take down all pop-up tents, poles, and canopies at your campsite.
— Firefly Festival (@LiveAtFirefly) June 21, 2015
Saturday night’s headlining set was supposed to be Kings of Leon, but they were not the only band forced to cancel at the last moment. Other cancelations included Kid Cudi, Sublime with Rome, Rustie and Matoma.
Organizers for the Firefly festival were hoping to reschedule as many bands as possible for Sunday.
“We’re working with each individual artist from tonight to see what we can do for rescheduling,” Firefly festival tweeted. “It’s case by case, we’ll keep you posted.”
Eventually, the festival organizers were able to only reschedule two shows, neither of which were Kings of Leon.
To the delight of fans, The Chainsmokers and Steve Aoki returned on Sunday to play their canceled sets.
To confirm, @steveaoki and @TheChainsmokers were the only artists that were able to reschedule. See you in #TheWoodlands in a couple hours!
— Firefly Festival (@LiveAtFirefly) June 21, 2015
Tropical Storm Bill has been causing havoc all along its path. As of Saturday, Bill had left portions of Ohio and Illinois flooded, vehicles stranded and caused numerous tornado sightings in the area. It was downgraded to a tropical depression, but at least three deaths have been recorded as a result of the storm.
Eleven states saw flood advisories over the weekend.
Kings of Leon’s last studio album was Mechanical Bull, released in 2013. It’s unlikely that their set would have contained any new work, though band member Nathan Followill has indicated that they are working on an LP.
Of course, it’s not an official announcement. Kings of Leon have remained somewhat silent about their follow-up work.
Several other shows in Kings of Leon’s history have been canceled due to circumstances beyond the band’s control.
In 2010, Kings of Leon had to cancel a set due to an overabundance of pigeon feces.
At the Governor’s Ball in 2013, Kings of Leon were scheduled for a Friday night set that was canceled due to unsafe weather conditions.
Finally, in 2014, Kings of Leon had to cancel several appearances after a bus accident caused injury to their drummer.
[ Image courtesy of Craig Barritt/Getty Images ]
