Illness Forces Till Lindemann to Back Out of Blue Ridge Rock Festival, Organizers Pivot Set Times
An unexpected turn of events forced the organizers of the Blue Ridge Rock Festival to move their Friday set schedules around, as Rammstein frontman Till Lindemann and his solo band had to cancel their appearance at the last minute due to the singer falling ill.
News broke of Lindemann’s inability to perform this Friday after the following statement was posted on the artist’s website:
“Due to illness, we are saddened to announce that Till Lindemann must regrettably cancel his performance at Blue Ridge Rock Festival 2023. We will be working diligently with the festival to bring him back in 2024.”
Short, concise, and to the point, Lindemann provided no other details at this time. Given the fact that he’s no longer being investigated by German authorities for a number of alleged sexual misconduct claims, it really seems like he might just be sick.
Set to take place in Alton, Virginia from September 7 to 10, the festival already had a stacked lineup without Lindemann, so things are going to be perfectly fine. Especially when you consider the bill includes performances by Pantera, Megadeth, and a reuniting Job For A Cowboy.
Lindemann was supposed to close out the Zyn Stage at 9:20 p.m. this Friday. With such a large vacancy now on the bill, organizers said they were forced to work with artists to make some changes to the day’s set times.
“Due to illness, we are saddened to announce that Till Lindemann must regrettably cancel his performance at Blue Ridge Rock Festival 2023. We will be working diligently with Till Lindemann’s team to bring him back for you in 2024. As we are always committed to doing, we rapidly put in strong offers to several noteworthy acts to step in for Till. On this short and unexpected notice, every band had to pass due to lack of band member + crew availability this close to the Festival. We pivoted, and have worked very quickly with the Artists performing on Friday to modify the set times in order to reduce/eliminate the conflicting overlapping sets that you the Fan wanted changed the most. In particular, we have gotten rid of your #1 schedule request of the entire weekend by removing any overlap between Sleep Token and Lorna Shore.
“Sleep Token has been moved to the Main Stage. Both their set and Motionless In White’s have been slightly extended as well, with Motionless now performing later at night. Using your fan feedback, we did our absolute best to accomplish as many of your wishes as possible despite the circumstances. We are not aware of any other cancellations across your 154 Artist Lineup, and look forward to seeing you all very soon for an incredible Rock & Metal Weekend!”
While it’s a bummer for Lindemann fans that the Rammstein vocalist will miss his only U.S. performance of 2023, it’s gotta be sweet to be able to see two insanely popular bands in one night now. Not only that, but you’ll get longer sets for Sleep Token and Motionless in White, if that’s your thing.
