NEW YORK – Although its top sustained winds were less than feared, Hurricane Irene's size, voluminous rainfall and inland flooding forced the cancellation of outdoor and indoor music events over a wide swath of the U.S. eastern seaboard, canceling events from the Identity Festival in Miami to the American Folk Music Festival in Bangor, ME.
For event organizers, it was pretty clear that their shows simply could not "go on." Some venues, including Atlantic City casinos, were evacuated as the storm approached. All permits for outdoor events in New York City were revoked. And with mass transit shutdowns, even indoor shows like Broadway's The Lion King and Mary Poppins and the Cirque du Soleil's Zarkana at Radio City Music Hall had to be canceled.
Among the canceled and rescheduled events were:
- Afro-Punk Festival, Brooklyn, NY (postponed)
- American Folk Festival, Bangor, ME (postponed)
- American Idols Live, Albany, NY (postponed)
- Blake Shelton and Aaron Lewis, Big Flats, NY (postponed)
- Central Park SummerStage with Jagged Edge, Avant and Melanie Fiona (postponed)
- Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, NYC (postponed)
- Dave Matthews Band Caravan at Governors Island (postponed)
- Essex Music Festival, Essex, MA (rescheduled)
- hMag Music Fest, Hoboken, NJ (postponed)
- Identity Festival, Miami (canceled)
- Javelina Festival, Rehoboth, MA (rescheduled)
- Kenny Chesney, Foxboro, NC (rescheduled)
- Mary Chapin Carpenter, Virginia Beach, VA: (rescheduled)
- Museum of Modern Art's PS1 Warm Up, Queens, NY (canceled); New York
- Out in the Streets Festival, Brooklyn, NY (canceled)
- Pat Benetar/Neil Giraldo, Williamsburg, VA (canceled)
- Paul Revere and The Raiders/ZZ Top, Westbury, NY (canceled/rescheduled)
- Rib Rock Festival, Jones Beach, NY; Holmdel, NJ (both canceled)
- Rock Energy Uproar Festival, Mansfield, MA (rescheduled)
- Silopanna Music Festival, Crownsville, MD (canceled)
- South Shore Music Circus (Temptations, Four Tops, Styx) Cohasset, MA (canceled)
- Travis Tritt, Webster, MA (canceled)
