FALLING IN REVERSE cancelled this year’s WIIL Rock festival over “missing” laptops.
Just hours before band was supposed to appear at the one-day event on Saturday, September 24 at Lake County Fairgrounds in Grayslake, Illinois, Ronnie Radke and his bandmates scrapped their performance because their laptops — which the musicians use to “run” their “show” — were lost.
“WIIL Rock, I regret to inform you that we have to cancel and we have no other option. I’m sorry. And I never make videos like this, but I feel like I owe it to you guys,” Radke said in a video shared by WIIL Rock Facebook page.
“So we show up to rehearsal. We only planned to rehearse one time. Because we just got off tour, we don’t need to rehearse that much. And we walk into rehearsals and our laptops are missing that we run all of our show on and stuff. And as a band in 2022, you need your laptops. It’s like driving a car without an engine. It’s really unfortunate. Supposedly they are lost. Blame it on our crew, I guess. I don’t know how that happened; that’s never happened before. [I’m] pretty upset about it. They are brand new laptops. And I’ll see you guys at Aftershock in Sacramento on October 2nd. I’m very sorry, guys.”
Video quickly generated a lot of backlash from fans who expressed their dismay over FALLING IN REVERSE‘s apparent inability to take the stage without their computers.
SiriusXM radio personality Eddie Trunk also offered his opinion, writing: “This is astonishing .. First I heard about this I thought it was a joke to wind me up. How much longer are fans, promoters, media, just going to accept the epidemic of live rock shows… not really being live? Paying your hard earned money to see a band play “live” that’s not truly live?! And there are countless bands in 2022 that hone their craft and play live! Tons! New and old !! Including the one that subbed for them in their slot, JACKYL . No laptop needed there! This is just unreal. But at least I give them credit for being honest. Wow. I am closer than ever to launching my own band. And I can’t sing or play a note .. simply amazing.”‘
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