My Chemical Romance have had to postpone their Australia dates, forcing the organizers to cancel the festival.
As concern over COVID-19 spreads, what was once considered a much-hyped news story is now becoming international news. The World Health Organization has now labeled the coronavirus a global pandemic, and several massive public events have changed their plans; SXSW 2020 has been canceled outright, while Coachella has been postponed until October. Now, Download Australia have announced that they too will cancel this year's festival after headliner My Chemical Romance were forced to postpone their Australia and New Zealand dates.
The festival has released the following statement:
"It is with intense disappointment that we announce that My Chemical Romance will not be coming to Australia to play Download."
MCR have released the following statement today:
'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.' My Chemical Romance.
"Given that this announcement has come barely 8 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.
"The Download team has been working around the clock to create an unforgettable experience for heavy music fans and we are devastated not be able to deliver this show to Australian Downloaders as planned.
"We are currently working with both My Chemical Romance and Deftones to schedule separate headline shows in Australia in 2020 and will update you all as soon as we have these.
"We are also working with a number of artists who have official Download side shows scheduled, to add headline shows in Sydney and Melbourne next week, stay tuned for these dates.
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"All ticket purchasers to the Download Melbourne and Sydney 2020 events will receive a full refund including booking and payment processing fees.
"We appreciate that the decision to cancel Download Australia will cause huge disappointment and may create major difficulty for ticket holders, for which we sincerely apologise.
"Moshtix will contact account holders on Monday 16th March via email with information regarding the refund process. We apologise for any inconvenience and appreciate your patience. For any questions relating to your Download ticket purchase, please contact Moshtix directly."
Other big names scheduled to play were Deftones, Jimmy Eat World, and Testament.
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While this is incredibly unfortunate, it is none the less understandable. With the growing state of panic and confusion over the coronavirus, public health is obviously key.
SXSW came under some fire from ticketholders for upholding its strict No Refunds policy.
“SXSW may, in its sole discretion and at any time determined by SXSW,” the policy reads. “Cancel, revoke, or refuse from any individual or company the following: Credentials, purchases, and/or hotel reservations made through SXSW. SXSW will not be responsible for any penalty, fee, loss, or expense that might result from such action.”
“SXSW does not issue refunds under any circumstances. Any and all payments made to SXSW are not refundable for any reason, including, without limitation, failure to use Credentials due to illness, acts of God, travel-related problems, acts of terrorism, loss of employment and/or duplicate purchases.”
The one concession SXSW is making is that tickets for this year’s event can be deferred to 2021, 2022 or 2023. In an email sent to ticketholders posted to Reddit, SXSW said they were looking into rescheduling the event this year, “along with some online conference experiences and networking opportunities.”
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