By City Mouse Online
The Klaxons and the Gorillaz Sound System have both canceled their performances in Israel this week, apparently due to Israel’s deadly raid on the Gaza-bound humanitarian aid flotilla and the ensuing worldwide political fallout over the incident.
Both groups were supposed to arrive in Israel on Friday to headline the Pic.Nic. Festival to be held at the Expo Grounds in Tel Aviv.
Though the groups did not provide an official reason for canceling their trips, event producer Shuki Weiss said he believes it was because the tumultuous events in the region over the last few days.
The Klaxons
The British band the Klaxons
The band Placebo, which arrived in Israel on Friday, is still scheduled to perform at the festival on Saturday night.
Weiss said that the festival’s producers received word late Thursday afternoon first from the Klaxons and then from Gorillaz Sound System that they were canceling their appearances at the festival.
“Attempts by the Israeli event producers to convince the artists to perform did not produce any results,” Weiss said. “I’m troubled by the decision of the Klaxons and Gorillaz Sound System.”
“I’m happy that Placebo, the main performance for opening night of the festival, has landed here. Their fans, who were prepared to welcome them at the airport, are also happy that they arrived,” Weiss said.
