Coachella: The Cribs, Bad Lieutenant Out Due To Volcano Eruption

by Yuliya Talmazan | April 16, 2010 at 06:54 pm

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The Cribs And Bad Lieutenant Dropped From Coachella's Line-Up Over Iceland's Volcano Eruption

The 2010 Coachella music festival kicks off in California tonight with dozens of top-rated artists in the line-up. However, some of Coachella's presenters were left behind by the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland that has grounded air traffic across Europe.

British indie rock band The Cribs was supposed to perform on Friday, but have now been officially dropped from the line-up. Festival organizers released a press release saying, "sadly, the Cribs can't make it to Coachella due to the Iceland Volcano situation." The band announced their predicament on Twitter and MySpace. The statement read, "we are pretty gutted to be frank, currently languishing in the grimmest ferry port after waiting for good news about free airspace that never came."

The band's plane was the only one still on schedule to leave on Thursday from Heathrow. The members of the band were allowed on the plane, and even managed to pick some movies and have a quick nap, before being told that the flight got cancelled.

"We were really looking forward to playing this year, the slot sounded perfect, outdoor at dusk, and the last time we played Coachella was really fun. We're really sorry it hasn't worked out and we'd like to thank the promoters for being so understanding and helpful. They even offered to get us a private jet to the festival site if we could just get to the USA but even that is currently impossible."

Another British alternative rock band Bad Lieutenant has dropped out, although Coachella's official website does not confirm it. The statement issued on Bad Lieutenant's website today says the band will miss Coachella.

Having exhausted every possible scenario to make their way to the United States from their UK homes, the members of Bad Lieutenant – Bernard Sumner, Phil Cunningham, Jake Evans, Stephen Morris and Tom Chapman – have determined that there is simply no way for them to play at tomorrow’s Coachella festival. The volcanic ash cloud formed by the eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano on Wednesday continues to keep British airspace closed and all flights in and out cancelled.

The band is very disappointed not to be able to play for their fans.

More bands scheduled to play at Coachella remain stranded in Europe The performances from Gary Numan, Frightened Rabbit and Los Campesinos are still under question. Los Campesinos wrote on their blog, "due to the volcanic situation in Iceland we are grounded in Heathrow with fingers crossed to fly tomorrow."

Musician Gary Numan wrote on his blog, "The last thing I expected this morning when I woke up was to hear that volcanic ash might be preventing us from flying to America. At the moment the very best British Airways are offering us, and this without any guarantee, is to put us on a sunday flight that gets in to Los Angeles in the afternoon on sunday. That is one step away from useless and means that, if we are very lucky, we might just make it to the festival site (a three hour plus drive from Los Angeles) in time for our slot..." Numan is not scheduled to perform until Sunday, April 18.

Frightened Rabbit was originally slated to perform on Saturday, but their latest Twitter updates read, "We can't fly out 'til Sunday and even then its somewhat uncertain." Like others stranded at the airports across Europe, the band seemed disappointed about the situation, "Bring me a (Heath)row-ing boat! There is a festival to be played in the America!" Although there is no official statement from Frightened Rabbit, CNN reports that the band has cancelled their performance at Coachella.