Download Festival Australia has been cancelled due to coronavirus

Download Festival Australia has been added to the growing list of events to be cancelled due to coronavirus.

The festival was due to take place on 20 and 21 March, in Melbourne and Sydney respectively. My Chemical Romance, Deftones and Jimmy Eat World were due to headline. The first sign of trouble came when it was announced that My Chemical Romance would not be making their headline slot, as was announced in an official Instagram post by the festival:

View this post on Instagram

STATEMENT REGARDING DOWNLOAD AUSTRALIA 2020 Melbourne Friday March 20 || Showgrounds Sydney Saturday March 21 || The Domain 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 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. 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. 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. 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. Please contact Moshtix directly.

A post shared by Download Festival Australia (@downloadfestau) on Mar 12, 2020 at 3:42pm PDT

This came after the Festival announced it had no plans to cancel just three days ago, as NME reports.

But My Chemical Romance’s backing out would be followed by the complete cancellation. A statement from the organisers reads: “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.”

Australia’s prime minister Scott Morrison today (13 March) announced that gatherings of more than 500 people would be canceled across the country to help curb the spread of coronavirus. The ban comes into effect from Monday 16 March but will not apply to schools, universities, public transport or airports.

Download festival joins other major events such as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, SXSW, Coachella – all of which have been cancelled or postponed due to the health crisis.

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