Why has Wireless Festival been cancelled if Kanye West cannot attend?

[Slightyamusedandsilly]

Don't understand why Wireless festival is cancelled just because Kanye loopy West can't come?

Wireless booking Kan/Ye couldn't possibly be the result of its organisers' enmeshment with the Omnicause. Oh no.

Did they not consider Bob Vylan, in the absence of Kan/Ye?

Well given they'd already sold tickets you have to assume so.

Putting a festival on without wires must be a technical nightmare, the probably just gave up.

Because the sponsors have already pulled out, and they've paid £13m to Kanye, which they now need to try and recoup.

What is your evidence that Festival Republic is enmeshed in the 'Omnicause'? (whatever that is).They are just a commercial event promoter, who make money by putting on acts that people want to see. The crowd at Wireless would hardly be political and Bob Vylan would be a very bad fit for the lineup.

Do you see any specific political bias in their events lineup here?: https://www.festivalrepublic.com/events

Outrageous behaviour only towards Jews, not black people/hindus/christians.. if it was an isolated incident I’m sure the Jewish board of deputies would have accepted an apology, but this certainly wasn’t. Is racism ok if you’re bipolar?

The crowd at Wireless would hardly be political and Bob Vylan would be a very bad fit for the lineup.
A lineup hasn't been advertised at all, apart form West headlining, and yet tickets went on sale yesterday. Who buys tickets for a gig without knowing he support acts? I've been to a lot in my lifetime and although the headlining act(s) are what first attracts me I won't waste a lot of money if there aren't any other performers I enjoy watching/listening to.

Yes, it was strange that the lineup had not been released - there was a leaked flyer earlier in the year but not sure if that was an 'official' leak or not. Possibly the organisers were struggling to fill the bill and are a relieved that they had an excuse to cancel.

It'll be something to do with insurance and financial viability that made it more profitable to cancel rather than trying to find a new headline act.

That's basically starting the whole festival from scratch. When it probably takes a year to organise.

So of course they can't just 'find a new artist, find new sponsors, reissue tickets etc'. It's a monumental amount of planning from hundreds of moving parts.

I agree.
I'm sure the sponsors would come back once they knew Kanye wasn't coming, and I'd have thought there'd be time to get a new headline act.

The whole thing sounds like a giant flounce by the organisers to me.

Why? Presumably all the smaller acts were sorted, also the venue, timings, media, council road closures etc. They literally just needed Kanye's 3 slots to be filled.

Why would a massive artist have gaps in their diary at a few weeks notice? Acts are booked way in advance. If they weren't from the UK they'd need to be on tour in Europe anyway to make it worth their while. And again the sponsors have pulled out so that all has to start all over.

I read an article about this, it said that because Wireless have the same headliner on all three days of the festival, and major music artists have their summer schedules set significantly in advance, there was no realistic prospect of securing an alternative act in the time they had.

It's amazing to me that they didn't predict this problem to be honest.

I'm very glad a horrific antisemite is not being given the opportunity to make money and gain fame and recognition in this country.

The smaller acts are booked on the say-so of the headliner (and their management). They’ll be some stable mates etc. Drop (or force out) the headliner and their management pull the other acts too.

Wireless has always been this way as far as I'm aware. Tickets released before line up is announced. At least it was that way when I attended 3 years in a row, a decade ago!

Kan/Ye is banned from entering Australia because of his antisemitism - how the Wireless organisers didn’t foresee this as a potential problem is utterly bizarre. And frankly concerning.

Ah, that explains it then. Got to admit - I would never buy tickets for a festival without knowing the lineup, but then I get the impression that Wireless is all about the headliner who plays all three nights, so more like a residency than a regular festival.

This. They've been saying it on the radio all morning. Without him they dont have any other acts.

Less stabbings