immaterial now, but anyway...

[lutewhine]

The troubled Love Music, Hate Racism festival, originally scheduled to take place at Finsbury Park but rescheduled to take place at Hammersmith Apollo this Sunday, was cancelled today after the Libertines pulled out.

I feel terrible for all those concerned with the event, as it's a very worthy cause that originally had a really good, really eclectic line-up, and it's been hamstrung completely by unreasonable demands from the Police (who demanded the area on Finsbury Park be sealed with a metal fence) and horrible bad luck.

But the worst bit? Moz was, so I've been told separately by people involved with LMHR and Sanctuary, the "Very Special Guest" alluded to in the original line-up. How perfect would that have been, to have returned to the scene of what the press saw as his worst mistake, supporting an anti-racism charity?

Let's hope LMHR manage to pick themselves up and get a similarly great bill together for a gig in London soon.

 

[Susan]

Ah, poor Morrissey. Seems like nothing can ever be smooth sailing for him, doesn't it? First a big drop in the charts, and now this.

I don't know much about this event, who else was scheduled to appear? I know the Libertines would be a big draw, but it seems silly to cancel because they did. And whose idea was it to keep Morrissey's name quiet, if he really was supposed to be there? If he was expected to appear that would have generated press and boosted ticket sales, I should think.

 

[lutewhine]

> Ah, poor Morrissey. Seems like nothing can ever be smooth sailing for him,
> doesn't it? First a big drop in the charts, and now this.

> I don't know much about this event, who else was scheduled to appear? I
> know the Libertines would be a big draw, but it seems silly to cancel
> because they did. And whose idea was it to keep Morrissey's name quiet, if
> he really was supposed to be there? If he was expected to appear that
> would have generated press and boosted ticket sales, I should think.

The likes of Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster, Billy Bragg, David Gray, The Stands, Goldie Lookin' Chain and dozens more were in the original line-up, but once the venue changed (and they lost sponsorship for the event), the bill was dropping like flies.

From what I understand, Moz dropped out after the venue changed this time last week. The rescheduled line-up was only confirmed late on Tuesday, far too late for all the obvious London press such as Time Out and Hot Tickets, otherwise I'm sure it would've been all over the papers this week. It was originally to have been a free event (although tickets in exchange for donations to help the running of the event were required for Hammersmith), so ticket sales were never actually an issue.

 

[Susan]

It's interesting that he should drop out after the change of venue. Given his "history", it seems like playing at an anti-racism gig would be good press, though not as significant as his playing Finsbury Park. Perhaps the Dublin gig the night before affected his decision? Maybe he's still under the weather. Or possibly he had some idea that the festival was going to be cancelled anyway.