Three major Louisville music festivals get cancelled due to COVID-19

Last Sunday (26 April), event producer Danny Wimmer Presents (DWP) announced the cancellation of three prominent music festivals that were set to take place in Louisville, Kentucky. These are: Louder Than Life, Bourbon & Beyond and Hometown Rising.

All three festivals were to be held in September at the Highland Festival Grounds at the Kentucky Exposition Center, but in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, they have been cancelled. In a statement, DWP said that even though the festivals were only happening months away, “the advanced planning realities of producing three back-to-back-to-back events have necessitated that a decision be made sooner than later”.

DWP added that it is “working really hard to bring as much of our 2020 lineups back to 2021”. Read the full statement here.

This year’s Louder Than Life festival was to take place 17-20 September and feature performances from the likes of Iron Maiden, KISS, Iggy Pop and Alice Cooper.

Metallica, who were slated to be a headliner at Louder Than Life, dropped out in February – following a statement issued by frontman James Hetfield, revealing that he was recovering from health issues related to addiction.

The Hometown Rising country music festival was set to take place 12-13 September, and would have featured headliners Carrie Underwood, Dierks Bentley, Blake Shelton and Old Dominion.

This year’s Bourbon & Beyond festival was set to take place on 25-27 September. 2020’s lineup for the rock-and-roots centric fest wasn’t officially announced, but last year’s festival headliners included the likes of Foo Fighters, Robert Plant and ZZ Top.

DWP has said that it would be reaching out to ticket purchasers on refund options and procedures later in the week.

Keep up to date here with the latest COVID-19 related event postponements/cancellations.

For more music news, click here.