Summerfest has now lost several of its headliners as Willow Smith pulls out of the festival just a week after Justin Bieber did. Willow has yet to release any information as to her reasoning for dropping her performance at the event. Justin Bieber had to cancel this and several of his shows after experiencing a rare facial paralysis.
Summerfest is an annual music festival in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and attracts around 800,000 people each year. The festival markets itself as “The World’s Largest Music Festival” a title certified by Guinness World Records in 1999, however it was surpassed by Donauinselfest in 2015. Headliners still on the lineup for this year include big names like Jason Aldean, Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa, Machine Gun Kelly, and Avril Lavigne.
On June 10th Bieber posted a video on Instagram showing that half of his face was paralyzed due to Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, which is caused by a shingles outbreak affecting the facial nerve near one ear. Bieber has been forced to postpone all of his tour dates scheduled for June and early July, including Summerfest, as he continues to recover.
Summerfest announced on June 20th that Willow would not be performing, just ten days before she was set to take the stage. Her slot will be filled by singers Gayle and Nessa Barrett. It is unclear why Willow has dropped the festival, as she has not released any statement and Summerfest did not specify.
In addition to Willow and Bieber, singer Ann Wilson has also canceled her show due to several members of her band and crew catching Covid-19. According to Summerfest, Wilson said “The health and safety of the audience and my colleagues comes first”. Wilson’s performance on June 25th has been replaced by the Steve Miller Band.
Despite several artists opting out of Summerfest, they still maintain several big names in music who will attract large crowds. The festival is not requiring any proof of vaccination or negative Covid testing and will not require attendees to wear masks either.
