Greek metal group Rotting Christ pulled out of 2019 Psycho Las Vegas festival and cancelled two CA shows with Tomb Mold and Mork around the festival. Psycho Las Vegas festival will be held at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on August 15.
According to Loudwire, Psycho Las Vegas officials suggested the cancellation was due to the band’s “procrastination & poor planning,” placing the blame on the band saying “it’s important that you know that this was not a case of Immigration stalling or denying their visas, which is far too often used as an excuse.”
Founder of Rotting Christ’s label Season of Mist, Michael Berberian, made a statement about the issue on his own Facebook page. Berberian states, “As one the long-running extreme metal groups, Rotting Christ have barely canceled a single show in the past 10 years. The group is also known as ‘road monsters.'” He believes, the changes in the lineup caused the delay of the visa process.
Berbarian added, “RC made a neutral statement. They didn’t understand the Psycho reaction and were genuinely sorry not to go there.. For real. So as far as the Procrastination comments goes and this statement from Psycho fest. I don’t know. I have been to this fest once, had a good time – what’s their issue there I have no clue to be honest?? It sounds almost personal.”
Read Berbarian’s statement in full below:
“So Rotting Christ cancelled Psycho fest.
Festival made a statement blaming us (??) and the great journalists at metal sucks and some others mud dwellers were all too happy to relay it.
A few points
– Rotting Christ barely canceled a single show in a decade. They are road monsters. They live on the road. They are on tour and festivals 150 days a year. This week end? 4 festivals, 4 countries with exhausting 15 hours drive between some. I saw the yesterday in CZ playing and driving to Belgium to play the next day… It’s insane.
You really gonna blame that band, one of the hardest working out there, who doesn’t cancel a show out a of thousand and try to hurt their image?
– Did it occur to you that Rotting Christ changed band members for the first time in over a decade? And that every time you change a band member, you have to restart the visa process. Rotting tried a few people since Feb. You know how “fast” US administration is.
– Do you know how many bands we have on tour and fest in the US per year? Yeah exactly, a ton. Ever saw a SOM band cancel for visa issue? Barely. We’ve been lucky I guess.
– I wasn’t a part of this visa process. I just talked to Sakis yesterday, asked my US office who explained me what happened. Administration delay and unforeseen circumstances.
RC made a neutral statement. They didn’t understand the Psycho reaction and were genuinely sorry not to go there.. For real.
So as far as the Procrastination comments goes and this statement from Psycho fest. I don’t know. I have been to this fest once, had a good time – what’s their issue there I have no clue to be honest?? It sounds almost personal..
We know how long and hard it is to get visas. Procrastination? Incompetence? Seriously – we’re not supermen. We make mistakes. But look at Rotting Christ tour history and how many bands we had canceling for visas. Pretty much none. And there was nothing any of us could have done, in Rotting Christ or in SOM.
So to resume: in the interesting new social media drama of the day, a festival made an accusatory statement over one of the nicest band out there and us, and some great “journalists” were happy to relay without any sort of background check. Moving on.”
Rotting Christ also released their statement on facebook:
“It’s with great disappointment that we announce our cancellation of our upcoming performance at Psycho Las Vegas. The unexpected delay in the visas process forces us to make a decision for first time in our 30 year history! We apologize to all our fans, this is out of our control indeed, and one way or another we will be back to perform in front of our American Metal brothers and sisters. Until then…NON SERVIAM. Enjoy Psycho Las Vegas and the rest of summer!”
