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Safety concerns cause last minute Green Day show cancellation

By Andy Malt | Published on Wednesday 5 July 2017

A Green Day show in Scotland was cancelled at the last minute yesterday, with promoters blaming adverse weather conditions. The band themselves said that safety was their priority, although personally they “don’t care if it’s raining fucking sideways”. Meanwhile, Glasgow City Council, which owns the venue, has distanced itself from the decision.

Shortly before doors were due to open at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow, promoter PCL Presents issued a statement, saying: “After many months of hard work and preparation, and after seven days of production and site crew working tirelessly around the clock on site, adverse weather conditions overnight and throughout the morning, during the band’s scheduled load-in, led to issues on stage. A meeting between the on-site health and safety, event management, the artists’ representatives and promoters concluded that it would be unsafe in the timescale to proceed with the event”.

Later, in their own statement, the band said: “The local safety council, production crew, and concert organisers have deemed the stage unsafe for the fans and everyone involved. We are very distraught about this as we are in Glasgow now and were very much looking forward to this show as one of the highlights of our tour”.

They continued: “We have been playing in extreme weather conditions throughout this European tour, and the last thing we want to do is see a show cancelled. We love our Scottish fans and we don’t care if it’s raining fucking sideways, although the safety of our fans and our crew is always our top priority”.

Meanwhile Glasgow City Council, which operates the Bellahouston Park venue, said in a short statement that it had nothing to do with pulling the show: “The decision to cancel the Green Day event was taken by the promoters and management of the band, not Glasgow City Council”.

The cancellation has led to questions over how well-prepared PCL Presents had been for the show, given that Glasgow is not exactly an area known for its consistently clement weather. There has also been criticism that staff hired on zero-hours contracts were told upon the cancellation that they would not be paid.

Slaves, who had been due to support Green Day, instead announced an impromptu replacement show at the ABC venue in Glasgow, saying on Twitter that “the good people of Glasgow still need a gig”. The show quickly sold out after going on sale.