An indie band has called off a concert in upstate New York after learning the venue was planning to host a “ReAwaken America” tour stop.
Japanese Breakfast, who were nominated in the Best New Artist at this year’s Grammy Awards, pulled their show in Rochester after the Main Street Armory booked a stop for a tour described as “the start of QAnon 2.0” by New York Magazine. The tour stop, scheduled for August 12 and 13 in the city, will feature affiliates of former President Donald Trump, such as former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and former Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone.
Flynn is a QAnon conspiracy theorist who encouraged Trump to declare martial law and “temporarily suspend the Constitution” following the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Stone, in 2020, was sentenced to 40 months in prison for a number of felonies, including lying to Congress, obstructing a House probe into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump 2016 campaign and witness tampering.
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On Twitter, Japanese Breakfast said people reached out to let them know about a boycott of the venue due to the tour.
“We were told the event was cancelled and later learned it was secretly still moving forward,” Japanese Breakfast tweeted:
Rochester area leaders have also asked for the “ReAwaken America” tour stop to be pulled from the 6,500-person capacity venue, RochesterFirst reported. Monroe County Legislator Mercedes Vazquez Simmons said there were concerns that the tour stop would lead to “further bigotry” in the community.
The venue is located in a neighborhood that’s predominantly made up of people who are poor, black and brown, leading to concerns from her constituents, Simmons said.
“I’ve received an influx of calls from community members about this tour — what it represents to them — and I’ll tell you there’s a sense of panic that’s happening in this community,” Simmons told RochesterFirst.
