Detroit’s 2014 St Jerome’s Laneway Festival event has been cancelled. In a statement, organisers claim timing and booking issues forced them to “postpone” the festival’s sophomore year but vow to return for 2015.
In a Facebook post (below), festival founder and promoter Danny Rogers detailed the story behind the postponement, saying, “We tried to get the very few acts that we felt would be appropriate for Laneway and none of them were available.”
“We had one that went all the way to the wire and then changed its mind at the very last minute – bless their beautiful heart too, they were under so much pressure to be everywhere and anywhere and something had to give,” he said. “We decided that we needed to be honest with ourselves and sit it out this year and review it again next year.”
Rogers said that he hopes the festival will return in 2015, and officially ruled out the possibility of moving the festival to another city. “We have no intention of doing any other city in America unless Detroit can be part of it,” he said.
Laneway Festival made its American debut in Detroit in 2013, with over 7,500 festival-goers enjoying sets from acts like Sigur Rós, The National, Deerhunter and Solange.
Full statement from St Jerome’s Laneway Festival
We’ve decided to postpone Laneway Festival Detroit this year due to timing. A big thanks to all of you for your support and interest in the event. We had an amazing time last year and hope to return in 2015!
“Last year was an incredible show and all of you who were there know that we put our heart and soul into this. We delivered what I genuinely believe was the most awesome festival I have ever been part of. Once we had gotten through the event we sat down and planning began.
“Some of the first questions we asked ourselves were these: what did we learn from Laneway Detroit? We learned that people in Detroit are some of the most passionate people on the planet. Detroit people are very proud. And so giving. In 11 years it’s always been a curated event, but in Detroit we had to think differently. I wasn’t going to blow my partners money just for the sake of putting on an event.
“We tried to get the very few acts that we felt would be appropriate for Laneway and none of them were available. We had one that went all the way to the wire and then changed its mind at the very last minute – bless their beautiful heart too, they were under so much pressure to be everywhere and anywhere and something had to give. We decided that we needed to be honest with ourselves and sit it out this year and review it again next year.
“Thank you again for being so incredibly supportive of Laneway Detroit. We’ll work on this for next year and hopefully your will and support can bring us back into market. We have no intention of doing any other city in America unless Detroit can be part of it.
DR
