ACL 2018: Major Lineup Shakeup

This is a huge bummer.

https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/music/2018-09-26/childish-gambino-cancels-acl-performance/

Bummer for the fans, like my friend's son who is coming into Austin on Sunday for the express purpose of seeing Childish Gambino.  Bummer for the C3 people who had booked a big up-and-coming guy right before his "This is America" blew up and became a huge tune, but now are catching loads of crap from people on social media for not somehow having an instant replacement in their pocket. .  Bummer for everyone who writes an exhaustive blog about Austin City Limits and HAD ALREADY PREPARED ALL OF THEIR SCHEDULE MATRICES AND NOW HAVE TO RE-DO ALL THAT CRAP!

I saw this news come through my Twitter feed the other day, saying that Gambino had broken his foot during a Dallas show.  Then I saw that he had pulled out of a few shows, and I started to get worried.  Then the announcement comes.

And to that, I say WTF?  It's not like we're talking about Bruno Mars or something, why can't he just put a cast on and come jam?  It's not like he's well known for some huge dancing spectacle on stage, he just needs to rap and sing.  Dave Grohl played ACL from a guitar throne because of a broken leg (and continued the show when he broke it)!  Axl Rose later used that throne to keep a tour going.  Also just going to note that Killer Mike, from Run the Jewels, beat a guy's ass during a performance in Austin, apparently ripped up his shoulder, and kept the tour going.

So, what I'm saying, is that this is a punk move from Gambino.  I'm sure it sucks to have a broken foot, and I get cancelling the show the next night after it happened, but two weeks later?  Put a cast on it and let's go!  Get a badass motorized chariot to drive around stage in!  Big bummer.

Now, let me be like all the people on Twitter right now. “Just get Taylor Swift to play instead waaaaaaaaa!  Why can’t they get Beyoncé and Jay-Z to take that slot?  This is BS!  I wanna refund!”  You really should go read the comments on Instagram or Twitter.  People are idiots.  Are there really people who think that Drake is just sitting around, staring at his phone, available and willing to come play two headlining shows?

On my walk this morning, I was thinking more about this, and the problem of proving damages.  The social media masses are pissed about this.  Loads of people bought tickets for certain days to see Travis Scott or Gambino, and now those shows are moved or cancelled, and they are super mad about it.  Is that anger going to last?  Will people keep a bad taste in their mouths about ACL in the future, and refuse to buy tickets?  Obviously, the Sunday single tickets just lost a ton of value on the open market, but what about a deeper, lasting damage to the brand?  Seems like there would be, but I have no idea how that could be quantified.  Sucks.  Someone tell Gambino that I'm willing to build him a motorized throne made of pistols.