P.O.D. Drops Out of Furnace Fest and Get Replaced By a Boy’s Night Out Reunion (Sort Of)
Bad news for Furnace Fest attendees, or perhaps good news depending on how you feel about the band, but Christian rap-metal unit P.O.D. has dropped out of Furnace Fest for undisclosed reasons. Not to fear because they’re being replaced on the bill by a reunion of Canadian post-hardcore band Boy’s Night Out…well, sort of. I’ll explain in a minute.
Here’s what Furnace Fest wrote on their Instagram about the changes in the lineup:
“Furnace Fest Fam, they said YES ???? Boys Night Out Confirmed!
“The ‘will they/won’t they’ dance is finally over! Every year, Furnace Fest Community has watched as Boys Night Out teased us with a possible reunion. It’s FINALLY happening! We’re beyond stoked to announce you’ll have your chance to sing along with Boys Night Out on SUNDAY at Furnace Fest 2024! This will be the FIRST and the ONLY show of 2024 – Don’t miss it!
“We couldn’t be happier to host them as we end this revival era of Furnace Fest and they begin their own????
“***Regrettably, due to unforeseen circumstances P.O.D. is no longer able to join us this year***
“Furnace Fest: The End Of An Era
October 4th – 6th, 2024
Birmingham, AL”
No details were provided about P.O.D.’s departure either from Furnace Fest or from the band themselves, as their social media accounts seem to make no mention of their departure.
As for the Boy’s Night Out reunion, Lambgoat pointed out that that comes with something of an asterisk following the post from Conor Lovat-Fraser on the band’s official Facebook page earlier this month. The post reads:
“Hello! Let’s talk about BNO.
“Y’all have been so rad and supportive since we stopped playing.
“Thank you for that.
“The band has been offered a few opportunities to perform live. We have had to decline these offers since I (Connor…hi!) am the only member of the band who still has any interest in performing live music.
“We are all still friends and there is no animosity between band members. Let’s make that clear from the jump-off.
“To that point, if I (Connor…hi, again) were to perform a BNO set with some friends of mine holding down the instrumentation, would YOU consider this to be an acceptable shape for a live show to take?
“I have talked to the band…Jeff, Dave, Ben and Rob…and they fully back this idea, but do YOU? Would this be something worth pursuing, or would it be yucky and gross?
“I won’t move this forward if it is a bad idea, but I would like to think that we may be able to have some fun singing along to some songs which have meant the world to me.
“Discuss!”
So it would seem that the Boy’s Night Out reunion isn’t entirely a reunion as much as it’s a new band with the same lead singer. But the comments section of that Facebook post were full of people who were very supportive of a Boy’s Night Out set with Conor as the only original member. And credit to him for asking the fans’ input on the decision, which is more consideration than some artists give to their fans.
No word yet on if Boy’s Night Out will perform when P.O.D. was originally supposed to on Sunday or if the schedule gets shifted around now.
