Zayn took to instagram stories and wrote: “I’m heartbroken to say that I won’t be able to perform tonight in Mexico City. I’ve been really sick since this morning and, despite trying everything to push through, my body just isn’t allowing it. I’m so sorry to let you down. The love and energy I always feel from my fans mean the world to me, and it hurts deeply to miss this moment with you. Thank you for your understanding, and please know I’m sending all of my love to each of you.”

A statement which he later followed with: “Mexico, I love you even though myself and many of my crew got severe food poisoning. It’s no joke – still struggling. I’m so sorry. These shows have made me feel alive, happy, grateful and at home and that’s all because of you. These shows, your energy, your fan projects … filled me with so much love and with a feeling I can’t even describe. Big Love.”

The boyband member previously postponed some of the US leg of his tour following the sudden death of fellow band member Liam Payne in October 2024. Zayn is known to be paying homage to Liam at the end of every single one of his shows, a memory to their time together in the world’s most famous boyband One Direction.

Earlier this month, the singer surprised his fans by singing a rendition of one of the band’s greatest hits ‘Night Changes’, his first time performing the tune in over a decade.

Zayn and his team have yet to reschedule the Mexico gig.

The conflict between Israel and Gaza has been ongoing for decades, however the latest escalation occurred recently on October 7th, when Hamas, an Islamic Resistance Movement governing the Gaza strip of the Palestinian territories, launched an unprecedented attack on Israel killing 1,400 people and taking more than 200 hostages. Israel retaliated by launching air strikes, and as it stands, the United Nations have reported 4,200 deaths in Gaza over the last 10 days.

The MTV EMAs, which were set to be held in Paris on November 5th, have now been cancelled “out of an abundance of caution”, according to a BBC statement from the event’s organisers Paramount.

Paramount describes the annual event as “an annual celebration of global music”, but said as “events in Israel and Gaza continue to unfold, this does not feel like a moment for a global celebration. With thousands of lives already lost, it is a moment of mourning”.

In a social media post from Paramount, the event organisers issued a declaration saying “Given the volatility of world events, we have decided not to move forward with the 2023 MTV EMAs out of an abundance of caution for the thousands of employees, crew members, artists, fans, and partners who travel from all corners of the world to bring the show to life.”

Given the volatility of world events, we have decided not to move forward with the 2023 MTV EMAs out of an abundance of caution for the thousands of employees, crew members, artists, fans, and partners who travel from all corners of the world to bring the show to life.

— MTV EMA (@mtvema) October 19, 2023

MTV announced the list of performers for the awards show previously this week. Acts on the line up include the likes of Anne Marie, David Guetta and Thirty Seconds To Mars, all of which are also 2023 MTV EMA nominees. You can view the full list of performers and nominees here. The EMAs were set to broadcast on MTV in more than 150 countries, as well as stream on Pluto TV and Paramount+.

Paramount have announced that voting for the awards show will continue, and the event will be rescheduled to November 2024 with all the original performers.

Voting is continuing and the winning artists will receive their MTV EMA Awards.

We look forward to hosting the MTV EMAs again in November of 2024.

— MTV EMA (@mtvema) October 19, 2023

Unfortunately due to capacity concerns within the LS23 arena for Andy C’s set, Leeds Festival has decided to reprogram the arena and Andy C will now have 1 performance at the Radio 1 Dance Stage from 9:15pm on Friday.

— Reading & Leeds Fest (@OfficialRandL) August 25, 2023

Pulling off a festival with the magnitude and prestige of Reading and Leeds without a hitch is always sure to be difficult in the best of circumstances, but the infamous festival has been forced into difficult decisions that may leave some fans feeling a bit disgruntled. Organisers had to act quickly when Hip hop artist Trippie Redd cancelled his slot at Reading and Leeds due to an undisclosed illness. Festival organisers relayed the cancellation to fans and ticket holders via social media platforms.

With many fans excited to see the US based Rap artist, scores of concert-goers expressed their dismay, stating that they would not be coming to the event at all. Trippie Redd himself released a statement saying, “I’m so sorry to announce that I can’t perform this weekend. I was really looking forward to coming to Reading & Leeds Festivals but due to illness I have to cancel my visit to the UK. I hope to see you soon!”

I’m goin to make it up to y’all. See you soon https://t.co/skEfiN7LXM — Trippie Redd (@trippieredd) August 26, 2023

Less than an hour after the news of Trippie Redd’s called off set, Reading and Leeds festival had to announce that DJ Andy C would be losing a planned performance due to concerns over capacity. The British DJ’s set at Bramham Park in Leeds was cancelled after organisers decided to reprogram the LS23 Arena where the set would take place. With Andy C scheduled to perform twice, he will now only play one set at the Radio 1 Dance Stage on Friday night.

Despite the double disappointment news from the festival over the two artists, the weekends still promise to deliver musical elation across both locations. With a star studded bill that includes sets from Sam Fender, The Killers, Billie Eilish and You Me At Six, festival goers are spoiled for choice across the multiple stages.

pic.twitter.com/hbo3TKYw5A

— BBC Radio 1 (@BBCR1) August 24, 2023

And much like Glastonbury Festival earlier this summer, the BBC will be streaming the Reading festival via its iPlayer platform with The Killer’s set shown on BBC1 on Sunday at 11:30pm and Billie Eilish’s set on Monday at 11:15pm. The service will also be featuring past performances from the festival between 21-27 August. Tickets for the festivals can be purchased here.

Lewis Capaldi recently announced that he will be taking a break from work commitments following his performance at Glastonbury in order to “adjust to the impact” of living with Tourette’s syndrome. Capaldi wrote, “I used to be able to enjoy every second of shows like this and I’d hoped three weeks away would sort me out. But the truth is I’m still learning to adjust to the impact of my Tourette’s and on Saturday it became obvious that I need to spend so much more time getting my mental and physical health in order, so I can keep doing everything I love for a long time.”

This announcement followed his decision to take a break to prepare himself for his Glastonbury performance, but has ultimately ended in a longer hiatus than initially planned.

One such commitment that Capaldi will be missing is the headlining slot of Reading and Leeds Festival, where he was set to headline Reading on Saturday 26th August and Leeds on Sunday 27th August. The festival organisers addressed his cancellation, writing, “We’re gutted that Lewis Capaldi won’t be performing at R&L this year, but health comes first and we wish him a speedy recovery.”

The 1975 have now been announced as the replacement headlining act, and are reportedly close friends with Capaldi. At The 1975’s gig at Finsbury Park on 2nd July, Matty Healy addressed Capaldi, saying “I want to send my sincerest thoughts to Lewis Capaldi who is a dear friend of mine, who on the day when he had to cancel his tour, checked in on me. And it’s also a reflection on how hard being a solo artist is as I would not be doing this show if I didn’t have these amazing men and women behind me.”

The 1975 have decided to use their headlining slot to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their self-titled debut album, released in 2013. Frontman Matty Healy announced this decision onstage at TRNSMT festival, telling the crowd, “So, on Saturday at Reading and Sunday at Leeds in celebration of 10 years of our debut album, The 1975 will be playing that album in full in support of our good friend Lewis Capaldi. If you’ve got tickets, good for you. If you haven’t, go and get them. We’ll see you there.”

The band also took to social media to confirm that this will be a 10th anniversary performance of their debut album.

Reading & Leeds Festival
25th – 27th August 2023

‘The 1975’ 10th Anniversary Performance
Tickets on sale now https://t.co/VV4VRerwe4 #The1975 pic.twitter.com/lMyQoeToIW

— The 1975 (@the1975) July 10, 2023

Tickets to Reading and Leeds Festival 2023 are available to purchase here.

Read about Matty Healy leaving his Dirty Hit directorship here.

Read about The 1975’s War Child collaboration here.

Stream The 1975 here.

He wrote on his Instagram page “It seems completely hypocritical of me to advocate discussion on mental health and write songs about it if I don’t take the time to look after my own mental health, I’ve neglected myself for over a year now and haven’t dealt with things that have deeply affected me. It’s impossible to do this work on myself while on the road, and it’s exhausting feigning happiness and wellness for the sake of business.”

He then continued to say that he was “eternally overwhelmed by the love and support of our fans and hate to let you down, but the state of my wellbeing is starting to affect everything I do, including my performances [and] I refuse to go out there and not give it my all EVERY time, as you all deserve nothing less.” You can view the post below.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sam Fender (@sam_fender)

Fender has always advocated for mental health awareness in his music. He also spoke to NME in 2018 about the mental health struggles tackled in his single, “Dead Boys”. He stated “I remember specifically for me as a kid growing up or as a young teenager if I ever cried or got upset in front of anybody, I would be so humiliated,” he said. “I’d be so angry with myself for being upset and then it would just become this catch 22 situation.”

The musician then added “It’s that attitude that stops men from talking and stops men from being like able to turn to each other. Me and my mates are very, very close. We all talk about our problems – especially as we’ve got older. But I  don’t think a lot of people have that. Men just need to be open and not emasculate one another.”

As well as the US shows, the Geordie musician said that UK record store dates will be cancelled for the time being, but that “hopefully we can work something out for those ticket holders, you’ll hear from us soon.”

Fender said he will “come back stronger” and mentioned his excitement for the Australian leg of his tour in late November, as well as the St James’ Park shows he’s set to play in 2023. The details and tickets for those dates can be found, here. He also recently announced details of his Live From Finsbury Park album, which will be released on December 9.

Due to production issues, @GillaBand have had to cancel their o2 Forum show and have announced a residency of shows around London. First is at @WindmillBrixton next Friday (16th). TICKETS ON SALE TOMORROW 10am!! – https://t.co/XV2Z2tiIax pic.twitter.com/RPLHB6UIWi

— RoughTradeRecs (@RoughTradeRecs) September 8, 2022

The band will play The Windmill Brixton on September 9^th, Peckham Audio on October 8^th, Moth Club on October 21^st and Studio 9294 on November 9^th. Tickets for the Windmill show go on sale tomorrow at 10 am; tickets are available here. Tickets for the rest of the shows will be available on Tuesday 13^th September at 10 am.

We are changing our band name. We are also playing some shows in Dublin in January. pic.twitter.com/PNhZ19dL2m — Gilla Band (@GillaBand) November 16, 2021

Gilla Band, formerly Girl Band, changed their name last November, apologising to anyone who may have been hurt by the band’s original name. The four Irish men released a statement via Twitter at the time, stating: “We will no longer be performing or releasing records under the name Girl Band. We apologise for choosing a misgendered name in the first place and to anyone who has been hurt or affected by it.” 

Continuing: “When we were starting off it was chosen without much thought. From a place of naivety and ignorance. We had no grasp of the weight of it at the time and in the past few years have found it impossible to justify or explain.”

They went on: “Regardless of our intention the effect of the name has been damaging to individuals. To try and negate any unfortunate role we’ve played in propagating a culture of non-inclusivity in music or otherwise. We have decided to change it.”

Finishing with: “Thank you to those who spoke up about it and educated us on this. Either directly or indirectly. Moving forward we will be performing and releasing records under the name Gilla Band. Gilla being a given name taken from old Irish.”

Gilla Band will be releasing their new record, Most Normal on October 7^th via Rough Trade Records. Earlier this summer the band released the second single off the album. The track titled “Backwash” was available as a Big Love exclusive 7’, limited to 120 copies and a video animated by Mortis Studios accompanied the release. You can watch the video below.

Speaking to Hot Press singer Dara Kiely revealed the inspiration behind the song: “The initial idea for the whole album was that it would loosely sound like a dream. We didn’t really stick to the brief but it lead us down different sonic avenues. ‘Backwash’ is one of the few tracks where the words represent a dream-like circumstance. The lyrics are from a stream of consciousness rant, weird imagery and all that. The track is about attraction – fancying someone and not knowing what to say exactly. It’s an indirect love song, knowing you like someone but can’t quite articulate it. Thinking that you have already expressed your feelings, but like waking up from a dream you’ve forgotten what you actually have said or felt.”

London residency dates:

16/09/2022 – The Windmill Brixton – London
08/10 – Peckham Audio – London
21/10 – Moth Club – London
09/11 – Studio 9294 – London

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A post shared by kinggizzard (@kinggizzard)

Mackenzie opened up on the post, “Hey everyone – Stu here. Unfortunately due to a personal health crisis we’re going to have to cancel the remaining EU and UK dates. For the past decade or so I’ve dealt with Crohn’s Disease the best I can. It’s a miracle we haven’t cancelled any shows in the past. But right now, my health is in really bad shape and I need to get home for some urgent treatment”.

He went on to reveal, “I’ve always kept my struggles with Crohn’s private. I guess I didn’t want to be defined by it. And maybe I’m not defined by it, but I’m certainly dictated by it. It’s looming threat has shaped almost every major decision in my adult life. I think about it and plan for it and around it every day. I know a lot of people deal with chronic illnesses. I’m sorry. It fucking sucks”.

Makenzie expressed his regret in being unable to continue the tour and said refunds for their headline shows will be available from Monday 8^th August: “Sorry to everybody who bought tickets, to everyone who helped make the shows happen, our crew, our management and agents. We’ll reschedule the shows that can be rescheduled and there will be full refunds available for all the headline shows from your point of purchase on Monday”.

He closed out his statement by saying, “Being able to travel the world and play live music for people every night is such a privilege and I’m so grateful for the shows we were able to make happen in Ireland, Croatia and Czech Republic. Thanks for understanding and again, I’m SO sorry. Love Stu”.

The NHS state that Crohn’s Disease “is a lifelong condition where parts of the digestive system become inflamed”; saying that the main symptoms are “diarrhoea, stomach aches and cramps, tiredness (fatigue) and weight loss,” and that “The symptoms may be constant or may come and go every few weeks or months. When they come back, it’s called a flare-up”. For more information on Crohn’s Disease click here.

3 more albums this year

— King Gizzard (@kinggizzard) June 17, 2022

The notoriously prolific band announced on June 17^th that they would release three more albums this year on top of an already busy year. The band have already released Made In Timeland exclusively on vinyl, Satanic Slumber Party (a collab with Fuck Storm) and the double album Omnium Gatherum. Click here to purchase.

On the three upcoming albums, guitarist Joey Walker told Australian broadcaster Triple J, “They’re very jammy and meandering, kinda funky-prog-something,” he continued, “They’re kind of a response to us not being able to get together and play during lockdowns. It’s just jamming and the product of that. We’re really, really pumped about them.”

Emily Eavis, one half of the Father-Daughter organisation team, took to her Instagram page to confirm the cancellation of the event.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Emily Eavis (@emily_eavis)

In May it was announced that a one-off event was being planned to replace the annual 5-day festival which Glastonbury normally held. The replacement event was due to take place in September of this year but was unfortunately terminated.
The September live music event was to be organised to replace the last two cancellations of the Festival due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions enforced due to the current health crisis. The September concert was to be called Equinox, the event organisers had a lot of ‘red tape’ to go through and eventually secured the necessary licenses and permissions from Mendip District Council to allow for 50,000 ticket holders to attend the autumn event. The event appeared to be approved albeit with over 50 conditions and provisions, the festival’s organisers and the team have not yet provided further details on the cancellation. The Instagram post from Emily Eavis is the main cancellation confirmation at this time.

This is not the first cancellation in which Glastonbury has issued, the cancellation of the rescheduled 2020 festival was announced by the Eavis’ in January. The announcement confirmed the event would not be going ahead and gave information on how ticket holders could attend next year’s event. The Festival released the following statement via their Twitter page. “With great regret, we must announce that this year’s Glastonbury Festival will not take place, and that this will be another enforced fallow year for us. In spite of our efforts to move heaven & earth, it has become clear that we simply will not be able to make the festival happen this year. We are so sorry to let you all down. As with last year, we would like to offer all those who secured a ticket in October 2019 the opportunity to roll their £50 deposit over to next year, and guarantee the chance to buy a ticket for Glastonbury 2022. We are very appreciative of the faith and trust placed in us by those of you with deposits, and we are very confident we can deliver something really special for us all in 2022! We thank you for the incredible continued support and let’s look forward to better times ahead. With love, Michael & Emily.”

The 2020 event would have been the 50th birthday of Glastonbury, both organisers were not deturbed in their celebrations however and wanted to still proceed with an anniversary event. Michael Eavis was keen to hold the event this autumn to match the Festival’s birthdate of its first event on 18th September 1970, Eavis previously confirmed his hopeful plans for the eventually cancelled event. “I would like to do something in September. I would like to do something smaller somewhere around the anniversary date of when we started, which was the 18th of September 1970. I would like to consider possibly doing something around that time.” Eavis was then asked if he would recruit big acts to perform, to which he replied. “Yes, but I do need to get reassurance from the ethics people.”

Glastonbury is one of the most iconic institutions in music history, the festival has been leading the way in live entertainment and legendary live performances for over half a century. It is no surprise that the festival’s founder Eavis wanted to celebrate its 50th birthday with a bang.
The festival has seen line-up’s full of rock, soul, folk and pop performers, known for its inclusivity the festival has catered for every niche market and genre throughout the decades. The festival’s first event was held the day after Jimi Hendrix’s tragic death, some may think that it was this tragedy that inspired Eavis to launch the new festival, but his inspiration came from a Blues Festival held at the Bath and West Showground. The initial event’s attendance is not even half of the 250,000 attendees at 2019’s event, in 1970 the attendance was 1,500 ticket-holders who paid £1 to attend the festival. Along with the attendance at the festival, the £1 ticket also entitled the holder to free milk from the farm. Considering that the concert was the festival’s first event the line-up was an impressive who’s who of the era’s popular music, the line-up included T-Rex frontman Marc Bolan, Stackrudge, Quintessence, Keith Christmas and Scottish folk musician Al Stewart.

Whilst the festival’s annual Glastonbury event and proposed September concert are no longer going ahead, music and culture fans will still be able to have a Glastonbury-like experience.  During the cancellations of the farm’s events, Michael and Emily Eavis have concentrated on another side of their business. The duo has opened up the famed event location, Worthy Farm, as a campsite open to the public. The new business venture is called Worthy Pastures and allows visitors to connect with one of music’s most iconic venue locations. Entertainment and activities provided to guests include the Pyramid Field, a SUNDAY Craft Market, Walking Routes, Cycling Paths, Table Tennis and the stone circle.

Click here for more information on Worthy Pastures.

We are absolutely devastated to announce that unfortunately, we will no longer be holding Boomtown Chapter One: The Gathering this year and it will now take place from 10 – 14th August 2022

Find more details and ticket FAQ’s here: https://t.co/bu5Lw71mLj pic.twitter.com/9rM5BFVSfw

— Boomtown Fair (@BoomtownFair) April 20, 2021

According to The Guardian, “26% of all festivals with a capacity of more than 5,000 people have been cancelled by their organisers.” Most of these are a result of the insurance they have, or lack thereof. With 2021 being still a year of uncertainty, there are chances that more festivals will have to do last minute cancellations. If that were to happen, they would suffer huge financial losses, which is why many are cancelling now. One thing that organisers say would restore confidence in the festival season would be if the government provided an insurance policy like some other European countries. The AIF chief executive Paul Reed informs:

“Without a safety net, independent promoters cannot begin to confidently invest in their events. They currently have no protection should a Covid-related issue result in the cancellation of their festival. If government-backed insurance is off the table, festival organisers deserve to know what government proposes as an alternative to prevent the widespread collapse of the festival season.”

The UK government has been working on a roadmap, using the recent festival in Sefton Park as a gauge for other future festivals.