New York’s Governors Ball festival, scheduled for early June, has been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, organizers announced on Thursday.
“It is with a heavy heart that we must announced the cancellation of Governors Ball 2020 due to COVID-19,” the announcement reads in part. “Simply put — due to current government mandates and the evolving situation in NYC, it is neither safe nor prudent to move forward with our June dates. The well-being of our fans, artists, staff, vendors, partners and the surrounding NYC community is always our #1 priority.”
The rapidly worsening situation in New York has made it the epicenter of the pandemic in the U.S., although the rapid spread of the disease in North America seems to make it increasingly unlikely that many of the other spring and summer music festivals, which have largely moved their dates to the fall, will take place at all this year.
The announcement, below, notes that organizers attempted to find a postponement date but “there are no sufficient options available to us.” They said they have already begun planning for 2021.
The lineup for the tenth annual installment of the festival was to include Missy Elliott — making her first major NYC performance in over a decade — Tame Impala, Stevie Nicks, Vampire Weekend, Solange, Miley Cyrus, Flume, Ellie Goulding, H.E.R., Swae Lee, Rufus Du Sol, Portugal. The Man, Foals, Summer Walker, Jon Bellion, Khruangbin, Carly Rae Jepsen, Maren Morris, Of Monsters and Men, Milky Chance, Bleachers, Banks and many more.
Last year Lil Wayne, Florence + the Machine, Tyler, the Creator and the Strokes topped the bill, although the festival was delayed by bad weather. In 2018, Eminem, Jack White, Travis Scott and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were the headliners.