Bangalore Open Air 2020 Postponed Due to Coronavirus Concerns

If the live music event industry wasn’t already on shaky ground, there’s more shutdowns in place following government advisory on entry of visitors to the country in a bid to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Owing to this sort of precaution taken by the authorities, the ninth edition of metal festival Bangalore Open Air — which was scheduled for March 21st — has been pushed to a later date.

Bangalore Open Air was set to host the likes of Swedish black metal veterans Marduk, Finnish metallers Kalmah, American prog metallers Intronaut, German metal band Beyond the Black and Bengaluru-based folk metallers The Down Troddence in at the Ramada by Wyndham. An announcement from the festival’s social media pages yesterday said that due to the directive from the Bureau of Immigration suspending existing visas granted to German, Spanish and French citizens, Marduk (whose drummer Simon Schilling is German) and Beyond the Black would be unable to make it to BOA.

The statement from the festival added, “This travel and visa restriction related to the coronavirus epidemic compels us to take this step to postpone the date of this year’s festival to a summer date.” The organizers were clear to mention that this wasn’t a cancelation of the festival, but a re-scheduling. “All existing tickets will be valid for the new festival date in 2020 that will be announced as per the government’s directive and post consultation with the relevant authorities,” the statement adds.

The Bangalore Open Air pre-party, however, which was intended to take place as the Wacken Metal Battle India final, will be on schedule for March 20th at Fandom at Gilly’s Redefined. Featuring headline sets by Bengaluru old-school metallers Kryptos, Mumbai death metallers Gutslit and Hyderabad death/thrash metallers Godless (the latter two on their Eviscerating India Tour), the competition part of the night will include sets by Chennai bands Godia and Moral Putrefaction, Guwahati crustpunk trio Retromist, Darjeeling tech-death band Obliterating Vortex and Shillong metalcore band Wreckless Shadow. A previous event which involved the Wacken Metal Battle Indian subcontinent finals has been canceled.

Stay tuned for more updates.