Headliner Stratovarius drop out of Västerås Rockfest 2024, due to “unforeseen imponderables”

The Finnish power metallers Stratovarius have cancelled their gig at Västerås Rockfest 2024 and another appearance in Sweden:

“Due to unforeseen imponderables we have to cancel our shows in Örsnköldsvik and Västeras this August. We’re very sorry for our Swedish fans, we were really looking forward to see you again and hope we can catch up soon.” – Stratovarius

While their performance at the venue “Nöjesbolaget” in the Swedish town of Örnsköldsvik has already been removed from the venue’s website, Västerås Rockfest 2024 still has Stratovarius listed as the headliner. At the same time, it seems that it is no longer possible to buy tickets for Västerås Rockfest 2024 which is supposed to take place indoors at the Västerås Arena in three weeks, on 24 August 2024. Interestingly, Västerås Rockfest 2024 is organised by the same organiser as Northern Rockfest Open Air 2024 which was supposed to take place in the northern Swedish city of Umeå this weekend but was cancelled three weeks ago due to “circumstances [that] have arisen surrounding the arrangement”. In addition to the cancellation itself, it was the obscure nature of the statement that was causing discontent among the festival’s fans on social media platforms such as Facebook. The post on the festival’s Facebook profile announcing the cancellation of Northern Rockfest Open Air 2024 has since been removed.