MANOWAR bassist Joey DeMaio says that the band has filed a lawsuit against the Hellfest organizers over the cancelation of the band’s concert at this year’s edition of the French heavy metal festival.
Earlier today (Saturday, July 20), MANOWAR performed in Istanbul, Turkey, and DeMaioaddressed the Hellfest dispute during a lengthy speech in the middle of the band’s concert.
Speaking directly to the audience, the bassist said (see video below): “When people talk about MANOWAR leaving a concert and not playing for some stupid reason, they have their head up their a—s.
“MANOWAR played out first show for seven people — seven! Okay? One of them was our manager; the other was a bartender. So if somebody says, ‘MANOWAR, they have to have a big stage; they have to…’ No. We have to have our people treated like they deserve. And we have to have a promoter that honors their agreements and their contracts and doesn’t just pick and choose what they’re going to do and what they wanna do. That’s the f*cking reality.
“We signed a contract in blood in 1983, and the reason I signed that contract is I wanted the world to know MANOWAR was the one band that will never f*ck our fans and never play sh*t music or make the fans eat sh*t with bad sound, bad lights and without our equipment,” he said. “That’s the f*cking reality.
“I didn’t see any of these f*cking promoters sign a contract in blood, but they’re happy to talk sh*t about people.
‘I wasn’t invited to the Hellfest press conference — just so you know — but they will be invited to mine, because I want the world to know the f*cking truth, exactly what happened over there. It was the promoters that caused every f*cking problem — not MANOWAR.”
DeMaio continued: “Now, I want you to think about something. We have played, just this tour, 30 different shows — 30. In 13 countries. We played a show in Israel; didn’t have any problem. We played nine shows in Russia — no problem. One show in the Ukraine — no trouble. One show in Belarus, two in the Czech Republic, five in Germany, Denmark, four in Norway. We played to 650 people at the f*cking North Pole in a city that has two thousand people and four thousand polar bears, okay? So don’t tell me MANOWAR are f*cking divas. We went there because we wanted to play for the people that lived there, ’cause they never had a heavy metal concert. We played four shows in Norway, two in England, one in Switzerland, one in Greece, one in Bulgaria, and we’re here on stage tonight in Turkey. So you tell me who’s wrong. You think it’s MANOWAR that’s wrong? One country, one f*cking show out of all of these, and there’s a problem. You tell me who f*cked up.
“The truth of the matter is we have filed a lawsuit against Hellfest organizers,” Joey added. “We don’t f*ck around. People try to f*ck with our fans… Nobody’s gonna push MANOWAR around. We’re not gonna give our fans less than a hundred percent. We don’t take sh*t from anybody. And yes, we would rather give a hundred percent or nothing. And I’m sorry that people traveled from all over the world. You have no idea how sorry I am, how sorry Eric [Adams, vocals] is, how sorry Anders [Johansson, drums] is, E.V. [Martel, guitar], our f*cking loyal crew. We feel terrible. People flew from all over the f*cking world to that place, and MANOWARdidn’t play. But you know what? We’re suffering for it, and the true fans will suffer along with us.
“I believe we will win this lawsuit, and when we do, we’re gonna take some money and we’re gonna find a country and we’re gonna find a city in that country that will have us, and we’re gonna play a free concert, and the whole f*cking world is invited,” DeMaio said. “You have my f*cking word that that will happen. You can believe on behalf of myself, Eric, E.V. and Anders, and the MANOWAR crew — the loyal crew that we’ve had for 30 years — we will do what we say. And don’t listen to these f*cking a—s-kissing motherf*ckers on the Internet talk sh*t about MANOWAR and their rumors. None of those f*cking assh*les were even there.
“Do they have a copy of our contract? Were they backstage? Did they see what happened? No. They’ve got nothing better to do than play with their f*cking little dicks and type on the f*cking Internet and talk sh*t about people. But we’re the band that showed up there with eight f*cking trucks, or however many we had, ready to play. And guess what? We never canceled. Yeah, that’s right. The announcement came from them, on their site. But it was nice for people to say we canceled so they wouldn’t have to listen to the fans bitch. So maybe those people should ask these f*ckers some questions about what really happened.
“I’m sorry to take your time with this, but the f*cking truth must be told,” Joey concluded. “And very soon this lawsuit will be made public. You can all go on the Internet and you can read it there yourselves. And everybody that pissed on us and pissed on you is gonna f*cking eat sh*t when they see what the f*ck really happened.”
On June 21st, MANOWAR had cancelled its appearance at Hellfest just hours before the band was supposed to take the stage.
Organizers said that “Despite a presence on site on June 20, the teams and members of the group decided to leave the site.”
Later on, MANOWAR posted on their social media that “organizers obstructed our efforts to put on the epic show we had promised.”
Now, MANOWAR has released new statement via their social media:
“Regarding Hellfest cancellation
“Our performance at Hellfest scheduled for June 21, 2019 was NOT cancelled by the band; it was cancelled by the Hellfest organizers in their announcement that appeared on their websites.
“In the days prior to Hellfest, Switzerland, Greece, and Bulgaria all witnessed our massive production that brought The Kingdom Of Steel to life. We brought it to Hellfest because we came to play.
“We fought to give our fans the performance we promised last year at Hellfest, but we will not be pushed around by the Hellfest promoters who chose not to honor their contractual obligations and think they can do wrong to us and to our fans.
“Those of you who have requested information regarding ticket refunds should contact the outlet where you purchased your ticket or the Hellfest organizers directly, as they are responsible.
“We are currently seeking every legal remedy available to us by law.”