Fact #87150
When:
Short story:
The Governor's Ball Music Festival begins in a torrential downpour of rain at Randall's Island, New York State, USA. Performances go ahead by Of Monsters And Men, Young The Giant, Crystal Castles and Erykah Badu but later in the day, Kings Of Leon are forced to cancel. Guns N'Roses, Gary Clark Jr., Kanye West, The Avett Brothers and The Lumineers [with the Success Academy 2 Bronx Children's Choir] will perform on subsequent days, and Kings Of Leon will return the next morning to play the opening slot in order not to disappoint fans who had remained despite the weather.
Full article:
Ivan Kushlik (tour manager, Kings Of Leon) : We were playing a festival show on Randall's Island, and the band was due to headline on the Friday night, when the most incredible storm blew in, it was unprecedented. There was kind of a stand-off on the stage. The whole place was waterlogged and there was less than 100 people on a field designed for 50,000, but the promoter was worried about cancelling the show because he'd have to refund people's money.
We were there, ready to do the show, but there was obviously no way it was going to go on. After about an hour and a half of this storm blowing across the stage, the promoter agreed there was no way the show could happen, and he accepted there was no way Kings Of Leon could play, but we came up with the idea that we'd come back the following morning and play the opening set so we could at least play for the fans who had bought weekend tickets. And that's what we did, the band just wheeled on in the morning, with no production, and played a 45 minute set, before Guns N'Roses, which was a fantastic thing to achieve. Even with the elements against us, we were able to deliver a show for the people who had bought tickets. That was a good feeling.
(Source : interview with Johnny Black, Audience magazine, May 2014)
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We were there, ready to do the show, but there was obviously no way it was going to go on. After about an hour and a half of this storm blowing across the stage, the promoter agreed there was no way the show could happen, and he accepted there was no way Kings Of Leon could play, but we came up with the idea that we'd come back the following morning and play the opening set so we could at least play for the fans who had bought weekend tickets. And that's what we did, the band just wheeled on in the morning, with no production, and played a 45 minute set, before Guns N'Roses, which was a fantastic thing to achieve. Even with the elements against us, we were able to deliver a show for the people who had bought tickets. That was a good feeling.
(Source : interview with Johnny Black, Audience magazine, May 2014)