My Chemical Romance (MCR) announced that their upcoming New Zealand tour date has been postponed, as well as their Download Festival Australia performances. My Chemical Romance made the official announcement on their social media.
Download Festival had been scheduled to play out next week with them being at Melbourne March 20 and at Sydney on March 21. Some of the groups included were My Chemical Romance, Jimmy Eats World, Dregg, along with Deftones.
Deftones’ involvement and their statement:
Deftones released their own similar statement in which they confirmed that their Download Festival set was also canceled.
The wording of their statement gave off the impression to many My Chemical Romance fans that it was MCR’s fault for backing out of Download Festival that led to their own cancellation.
Download Festival’s involvement
The passing of the blame was also seen in Download Festival’s statement addressing MCR and Deftones pulling out. Download Festival started their statement with MCR’s statement, and then expressed their disappointment on losing their headliner in such a short amount of time. They didn’t once address the circumstances of why they dropped out. Download Festival seemed very tone-deaf to the seriousness of COVID-19 and the health concerns attached to being in a large venue with crowds of people.
Keep in mind that in 2010 Download Festival confirmed that the capacity of Download Festival can be up to 110,000 people.
Download Festival’s statement:
“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.
Download Festival’s statement in regards to MCR and Deftones dropping out.
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.
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 apologize.”
Ray Toro, of MCR, Responds
Lead guitarist Ray Toro, who previous to this situation had not logged into Twitter since January 31, felt it was best to log in and clear My Chemical Romance’s name on Deftones’ statement.
Toro cited the Prime minster’s banning of events with more than 500 people due to COVID-19. Toto implied that it would be irresponsible to have not dropped out due to safety concerns. That was the only statement/ response from My Chemical Romance. Nothing further was said by Toro or any other member of My Chemical Romance to Deftones or Download Festival.
Thus far, Deftones and Download Festival have not apologized for their horribly worded statements. The lack of response on their behalves has opened them to criticism from fans.
Reaction to Download Festival’s statement tweet:
Reaction to Deftones’ statement tweet:
