The Child Rock-led “Rock the Nation” music pageant canceled the South Carolina cease on its tour as a number of marquee artists dropped out of the “politically charged” bash.
The 2-night occasion was scheduled to happen on the Anderson Sports activities & Leisure Heart in Anderson, SC, in July and have headliners, rock bands Creed and Shinedown, nation music star Brantley Gilbert and 3-time Grammy award-winning rapper Ludacris.
Further artists included Gretchen Wilson, Morgan Wade, Lakeview, Parmalee, Chase Matthew and Fox N’ Vead.
Nonetheless, Anderson County officers had been notified on Thursday that the pageant canceled the gig, County Administrator Rusy Burns informed the Greenville Publish and Courier.
The administrator declined to offer a motive for the cancellation however mentioned a minimum of one band had points with the pageant being politically charged, in keeping with the outlet.
Anderson County, which might have benefited economically from internet hosting the two-day occasion, was working to seek out performers for an unrelated live performance in April.
Child Rock, whose actual title is Robert James Richie, based the annual pageant in 2024 and marketed the tour as an enormous multi-state pageant with stops in eight totally different cities, celebrating the US’ 250th birthday.
This yr’s tour was set to run from Might to September 11 and 12, the place the ultimate gig could be held in Hamburg, NY.
“Rock The Nation is greater than only a pageant, it’s a celebration of group, custom, and the spirit that’s carried America via 250 years. It’s the place neighbors turn out to be associates, households come collectively underneath the wide-open sky, and folk from each stroll of life share the easy pleasure of nice music and good firm,” in keeping with the tour’s web site.
“As we honor this milestone 250th yr, each music, each chortle, and each toast feels a bit of larger. It’s an opportunity to go searching and recognize the energy of our cities, the tales that formed us, and the moments we’ll be speaking about lengthy after the lights go down.”
Shinedown, who was the highest group for the July twenty sixth present, had beforehand introduced its choice to tug out of the occasion.
“Shinedown is everybody’s band. We really feel that we now have been given a platform to carry all individuals collectively via the ability of music and music. We now have one boss, and it’s everybody within the viewers,” the band mentioned.
“Our band’s function is to unite, not divide. With that in thoughts, we now have made the choice that we are going to not be enjoying the Rock the Nation pageant.”
“We all know this choice will create variations of opinion,” the band mentioned. “However we don’t need to take part in one thing we consider will create additional division.”
The group was the fourth to drop out of the gig.
Moreover, Ludacris, Wade and nation singer Carter Religion had additionally backed out of the live performance forward of the cancellation, in keeping with the Publish and Courier.
Ludacris, whose actual title is Christopher Brian Bridges, was named as one of many headliners however claimed there was a “mix-up” after the announcement.
