Severe Weather Cancels Kings of Leon’s Firefly Fest Set
Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Firefly
by Daniel Kreps
Kings of Leon’s Saturday night headlining set at Dover, Delaware’s Firefly Festival was canceled at the last minute by “dangerous, inclement weather” that forced the evacuation of the festival grounds. “Severe weather is heading our way. If at The Woodlands, clear the festival grounds, head towards the exit and seek shelter in your vehicles,” the Firefly Twitter alerted 90,000 festivalgoers just minutes before Kings of Leon were set to take the stage, NJ.com writes.
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The threat of incoming storms – the residue of Tropical Storm Bill – pushed organizers to move Kings of Leon’s 10:30 p.m. set to 9:45 p.m. with the hope that an earlier slot would beat out the weather, Billboard reports. Unfortunately, the lightning storm made its way to Firefly just before the band’s headlining set. Attendees were encouraged to evacuate the Woodlands and “take down all pop-up tents, poles, and canopies at your campsite.” “With continued storms, shows will not resume tonight. Sunday shows remain as planned. Stay safe and see you tomorrow,” the festival tweeted.
In addition to Kings of Leon’s canceled set, Kid Cudi’s performance was also called off after 20 minutes, while Sublime With Rome, Rustie and Matoma all had their gigs scrapped due to the weather. Firefly organizers hoped to salvage the remains of Saturday canceled sets by rescheduling those artists for Sunday; “We’re working with each individual artist from tonight to see what we can do for rescheduling. It’s case by case, we’ll keep you posted,” organizers tweeted. However, Steve Aoki and the Chainsmokers were the only Saturday acts that were available to perform on Sunday.
This is the second time in three years that severe weather forced the cancellation of a Kings of Leon headlining performance: In 2013, the band’s Friday night Governors Ball set was postponed because of "sustained high winds and unsafe stage conditions.“ However, Kings of Leon were able to reschedule with Saturday slot at that festival. (Also, in 2010, Kings of Leon cut short a St. Louis concert due to defecating pigeons.)
Thankfully for Firefly-goers, festival-closing Sunday looks like it will avoid Saturday’s severe weather. The Killers, Snoop Dogg, Tove Lo, Hozier and Bastille are among the acts scheduled to perform Sunday in Dover.
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