Fans of Coachella got a surprise tonight. A big act has cancelled performance.
Solange Knowles, sister of Beyonce, and a respected R&B artist in her own right, suddenly pulled out of her show at Coachella scheduled for this coming weekend. She was scheduled to appear on Saturday April 13th and the 20th.
Her team posted to Twitter: “Due to major production delays, Solange will unfortunately no longer be performing at this year’s festival. She sends her sincerest apologies, and looks forward to performing at Coachella in the future.”
Yes, but Solange released a new album a month ago, on March 1st, called “When I Get Home.” The album got good reviews, but it entered the charts at number 7. After that it was dead. So far the album has sold just 13,500 copies and streamed enough to total 63,000. “When I Get Home” was basically DOA. And that’s crazy. She was in a position to build and build. But there was no press, no appearances, no TV, no single, nothing. The album has since vanished from all charts.
Now comes the cancellation of the Coachella appearance, which would have boosted interest and sales.
This isn’t the first time Solange has cancelled a major show. She cancelled a New Year’s Eve show in South Africa at the end of 2017 bec=ause of an “Autonomic Disorder,” she wrote on Twitter. “It [sic] been a journey that hasn’t been easy on me.”
Hard to say what her label, Columbia Records, thinks as they fight for sales and hits. Beyonce is also signed to Sony, and they’re not going to rock any boats while they’re waiting for a new release from her.
Coachella 2019 is already plagued by tragedy. A rigger who’d worked with the festival for 20 years fell to his death Saturday.
The festival’s company issued an announcement: “Today, Goldenvoice lost a colleague, a friend, a family member. Our friend fell while working on a festival stage. It is with heavy hearts and tremendous difficulty that we confirm his passing. He has been with our team for twenty years in the desert and was doing what he loved. He was a hard- working and loving person that cared deeply about his team. As our lead rigger, he was responsible for the countless incredible shows that have been put on at the festival. We will miss him dearly,” the company said.