Placebo drop out of Kazakhstan’s Yandex Park Live

Placebo have cancelled their headline performance at Kazakhstan’s Yandex Park Live, with less than a week to go until the festival.

The new festival has been launched by the organisers behind Moscow’s Park Live, which fell over in 2022 when a raft of international acts pulled out over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Placebo were among the acts that dropped out of the event, alongside My Chemical Romance, Slipknot, Biffy Clyro, Iggy Pop, Deftones, Royal Blood and The Killers.

Now, the British band has stepped back from Kazakhstan edition, set to take place between 6–8 September in the city of Almaty.

“There are compelling circumstantial reasons for this, not related to the professionalism of the organisers, which we were unable to resolve… We apologise profusely to all our fans in Kazakhstan,” reads a statement from the band, which at the same time has pulled out of their upcoming concert in Georgia.

“Consequently, despite the best efforts of our Georgian promoters, this has made it logistically impossible for us to perform in Tbilisi on September 12th.”

“There are compelling circumstantial reasons for this, not related to the professionalism of the organisers, which we were unable to resolve”

“This is what life is all about,” reads a statement from Yandex Park Live. “There are unexpected things that make you disappointed. Even though we are not the ones who made such a difficult decision, we do not want to blame anyone. No matter what, we have to move forward. Our mission is to engage and uplift the people of the world.”

The festival has now lost two major international acts after British rock band Editors pulled out over the alleged Russian links of the headline sponsor, Yandex.

“Having now been informed who the sponsor of the event is, we have decided to withdraw our involvement,” they wrote on social media at the time. “We dearly hope to come back to Kazakhstan in the future, under different circumstances.”

Editors were replaced by The Kooks who, following Placebo’s cancellation, have been bumped up the bill to the closing slot on Sunday 8 September.

Die Antwoord and Tyga are scheduled to headline the Friday and Saturday, respectively, with Oliver Tree, Tom Meighan, Dizzee Rascal and Yonaka among the international acts that are further down the bill.

One-day tickets to the festival cost KZT 25,000 (€48) for Friday and KZT 30,000 (€58) for Saturday and Sunday. Three-day entry costs KZT 60,000 (€116) and one-day VIP tickets are KZT 135,000 (€262).

Ticketholders for Sunday 8 September have been offered full refunds, as well as free entry to Friday or Saturday of the event and a 50% discount on one day of Yandex Park Live festival in the future.

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.