C2C Festival Postponed Over Coronavirus Pandemic, Travel Policies
The Country to Country festival, billed as the largest country music festival in Europe, has been postponed over concerns about COVID-19, also known as the coronavirus. Abbreviated as C2C, the three-day event of live music in England, Scotland, and Ireland was set to begin Friday with headliners Eric Church, Luke Combs, and Darius Rucker.
“Due to the global pandemic of COVID-19 and the changing nature of travel policies in other countries alongside possible extended future restrictions, it is with regret that Country to Country Festival 2020 — London, Dublin and Glasgow — is being postponed,” the festival said in a statement, advising fans to hold onto their tickets and promising information on the rescheduled dates “in the coming days.”
— Country2Country (@C2Cfestival) March 12, 2020
The news follows the announcement by President Trump of a 30-day travel ban from mainland Europe (though not the U.K.). Some artists had yet to leave Nashville for C2C, while others were already overseas and arranging travel back home. The singer Gabby Barrett was re-routed en route to a C2C event. Luke Combs performed a C2C show in Amsterdam on March 7th.
The initial lack of information from the C2C organizers riled fans online, many of whom were en route to the venues or had plans to attend one of the weekend’s shows. Earlier on Thursday, the C2C Twitter account announced the cancellation of the CMA Songwriters Series concert set for that evening at Indigo at the O2 in London, citing the “travel restrictions.”
Last week, Old Dominion preemptively pulled out of C2C over concerns about the rapid spread of the coronavirus. Other artists scheduled to perform during the festival included the Cadillac Three, Tanya Tucker, Runaway June, and the Shires.
Several other country tours and concerts have been affected by the coronavirus, including the spring tours of Zac Brown Band and Dan + Shay. On Thursday, Chris Stapleton announced he was postponing the next two weekends of concerts on his All-American Road Show Tour.