This is pretty sad news. Rock The Bells, a hip-hop festival celebrating its tenth year, and which has been expanding over the years by visiting more locations across the U.S., has to cancel their remaining shows in New York and Washington, D.C. due to poor ticket sales.
The event was already successful in L.A. and San Francisco earlier this month, where both Eazy E and ODB were resurrected. Now, according to Ticketmaster and XXL, the remaining shows in NYC (October 4 and 5) and D.C. (September 28 and 29) have been cancelled.
The festival had just announced that the line-up for this coming weekend would include Wu-Tang Clan, J. Cole, Pusha T, Kid Cudi, Black Hippy, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane and other hip-hop guests.
We'll update this story when more details surface, as of now, Rock The Bells have not released an official statement.
[UPDATE: Rock The Bells Issues Official Statement]
The Rock The Bells festival organizers, Guerilla Union, have released an official statement to HotNewHipHop regarding the cancellation of both New York and Washington shows.
Chang Weisberg, the founder and owner of Guerilla Union states, "First and foremost, it is with great sadness and disappointment that we must cancel the Washington, DC and New York City Rock the Bells dates due to lack of ticket sales. I, along with our staff, the artists, and all of the sponsors, media partners, local promoters, and radio stations involved are thankful for our supporters and the fans that planned on attending. It’s extremely unfortunate that we can’t complete the last half of the 10 Bells tour. We did everything in our power to save the show. Unfortunately, the financial loss would have been devastating. I am truly sorry we could not produce the show for all the fans who did buy their ticket in support of."
As mentioned earlier, tickets will be refunded at the location the tickets were purchased. More details can be found on the festival’s official website at www.rockthebells.net.
[UPDATE: Guerilla Union Founder Confirms 2014 Return]
Guerilla Union founder Chang Weisberg has released an official video statement explaining the Rock The Bells cancellations in depth, also pledging to return in 2014.
"The bigger reasons, the macro-version, there were a lot of great shows that were out touring in our same time period; that could be a factor. The fact that Jay-Z was on sale, the fact that Kanye was on sale, the fact that Drake was on sale; there were just a lot of great hip-hop shows, and I wish all of them well. I think competition increases the market, and I’m happy that all these acts can be touring, and ultimately, maybe, that was one of the issues."
Peep Weisberg's full statement below. It comes with this disclaimer:
"The fans are the most vital part of the festival - without your passion, energy and support, we are nothing. We are listening to your comments, learning from what has transpired, and taking it with us as we move forward. Be there with us."