Mos Def’s Sydney Soulfest No-Show

By James Arnold-Garvey

Yasiin Bey, aka Mos Def, has missed his first performance as part of the inaugural Soulfest tour, announcing just hours beforehand that his Sydney set had been cancelled after missing a flight.

The artist posted an announcement to his Facebook page at 1.15pm this afternoon, less than three hours before he was scheduled to perform on the main stage at today’s event, held in Sydney’s Victoria Park.

“Peace Sydney. Sorry Im going to miss you today,” reads the statement. “We had some travel issues.” The festival published a statement soon after, confirming the artist had “missed his flight”.

Music Feeds reviewer Donné Restom says fans at the festival were confused about the situation, some not hearing of the cancellation until 30 minutes before Mos Def was set to take the stage, when an announcement was made over the Main Stage PA.

Another announcement was made at 4:10pm, the originally scheduled performance time, when Sydney-based artist Miracle took the stage after being bumped up from the smaller Spotify Stage, where he was due to perform 20 minutes earlier.

Understandably, many fans are not happy about the late notice and the no show. Napoleon Miller wrote to the Soulfest Facebook, “I understand [Mos Def] was the one who missed his flight but paying patrons don’t really care who’s fault it is in the end. We just want what we paid for.” He goes on to suggest tickets to Sydney Soulfest be validated for Mos Def’s upcoming headline show at Sydney’s Enmore Theatre.

That performance is still set down for this Monday, 20th October. Mos Def is still scheduled to perform at Soulfest’s second stop, Melbourne, tomorrow.

[UPDATE 19/10/14: Soulfest are now offering Sydney ticketholders discounted tickets to Mos Def’s Sydney headline sideshow on Monday, 20th October.]

Mos Def last toured Australia in 2011, when he cancelled four out eleven performances at the cost of $250,000 to the promoter, Sam Speaight. Those cancelled performances were also blamed on missed flights.

Said Speaight after the tour finished, “I got a call at 5am on a Saturday, two hours before they were due to book their flight to Australia, to tell me that they wouldn’t be getting on the flight because one of the manager’s daughters had slipped and hit her head on the ground, and that as a result, the tour couldn’t commence.”

Read our entire review of the day here.

Photos: Soulfest 2014 – Sydney, Victoria Park 18/10/14 — Photos by Liam Cameron

Post by Mos Def Official.

Post by Soulfest.

Soulfest 2014 - Sydney, 18/10/14

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James Arnold-Garvey
James Arnold-Garvey

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