Slow ticket sales and increased production costs led promoters to cancel the Lollapalooza rock festival scheduled this month for Vernon Downs racetrack in central New York.
The July 26 concert was to feature Jane’s Addiction, Audioslave, the Donnas, Queens of the Stone Age, Incubus and Jurassic 5.
“Due to the costs of production versus the estimated tickets sales of 15,000, it did not make fiscal sense to play this date,” said a statement issued Wednesday. “Unfortunately, the venue is such that Lollapalooza would have needed to bring in additional production facilities, which made the cost to produce the Syracuse-area show significantly more than other venues on the tour.”
Lollapalooza publicist Laura Cohen said the Vernon Downs show was the second date dropped from the tour.
A sellout crowd for Vernon Downs is about 25,000 people, but the track has accommodated up to 30,000 for past concerts. Last month, The Dead and Willie Nelson drew about 20,000.
Mark Scalzo, marketing director for Vernon Downs, said he didn’t know how many tickets were sold, though the last figure he heard was about 4,000.
The revival tour canceled its opener in Ionia, Mich., in mid-June because of “staging and technical difficulties with the event site.” Instead, the tour opened July 5 in Noblesville, Ind.
Cohen said the Michigan show was replaced on the schedule with the festival’s finale Aug. 24 in Portland, Ore. The only other New York date is July 30 in Wantagh on Long Island.
