HUNTSVILLE — After an onstage fracas involving members of the rock group Jane’s Addiction caused the band to cancel its tour – including next weekend’s inaugural South Star Music Festival in Huntsville, organizers are rolling with the punches in finding a replacement.
“This late in the game is pretty challenging, but they’re working at it hard,” said Huntsville City Administrator John Hamilton. “This kind of thing happens. It’s not that unusual where somebody has to drop out of a festival for some reason or other.”
The South Star Music Festival is set to launch Sept. 28 at John Hunt Park. A massive two-day event packed with major names in music, South Star is produced by entertainment company C3 Presents.
But, the start hit a sour note after the cancellation from Jane’s Addiction.
Late last week, videos went viral of lead singer Perry Farrell attacking guitarist Dave Navarro on stage during a performance in Boston. The confrontation led to the band ending its entire American tour.
At a news conference Wednesday, Hamilton said Jane’s Addiction’s decision to pull out wasn’t entirely surprising.
“Obviously, we were seeing a lot of stuff in the news as well, and there were all the viral videos,” he said. “So those of us who had seen that over the weekend, we kind of already thought there might be something in the works. They did inform us when it became official that Jane’s Addiction had to cancel.
“If you look at where Jane’s Addiction was slotted, that’s one of the more significant acts in terms of their prominence, but also the dollar value associated with that slot.”
However, Hamilton is confident C3 will find a quality act to take the open slot. The company this year has produced Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tenn.; Lollapalooza in Chicago; Austin City Limits Music Festival in Texas; and, most recently, last weekend’s Sea Hear Now in Asbury Park, N.J., among others.
“They do have funding to work with to attract a replacement,” he said. “I don’t have up to the minute on where they are in that process. Obviously, C3 is an element of Live Nation and has lots of connections in the music world.
“If anybody can find a replacement, it’s them.”
Urban & Economic Development Director Shane Davis said working with C3 has been “first class.”
“We’ve been able to accelerate that to what will happen next week,” Davis said. “I think it’s hard for us to explain the size, scale, and quality of the festival that will happen next week.”
According to Hamilton, safety precautions are important to C3 and will be “very robust” throughout the weekend.
“The safety matters to them a great deal,” he said. “Look at the plans for weather emergencies and all those kinds of things. There are any number of kinds of things that could happen. There’s going to be some sort of medical emergency. Somebody is going to have some reason to go see a doctor or whatever.
“So having those plans in place is extremely important to them and to us.”
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