James Hilsum
The word ‘rage’ is being emphasised in Rage Against The Machine, after the band announced they would be cancelling the UK and European leg of their tour.
They broke the news on Twitter after confirming that lead singer Zack de la Rocha would be unable to make the journey across the Atlantic due to sustaining a leg injury he suffered on stage in July.
RATM will still tout the US and Canada, and are currently in the midst of three shows at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
But that will not be much consolation to those heading off to Reading and Leeds at the end of this month.
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One would think that a suitable replacement would be found for the rock band, but festivalgoers have turned to a different genre and replaced them with pop band The 1975.
It has caused plenty of anger from frustrated festivalgoers, with one saying the 'replacement was nowhere close to the same music genre'.
Meanwhile, another RATM fan added: "My partner and I bought two tickets to see Rage, travelling to Reading all the way from Glasgow.
"Train tickets already booked. Now they're saying we can't get a refund for line-up changes. The 1975 are not a suitable replacement."
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RATM advised their fans to 'contact your point of purchase for refunds to any headline shows'.
The debate around whether or not festivalgoers should receive a refund continued on Twitter, with one saying: “It’s a festival, it’s not about one specific act. Go and watch something else, experiment, party, have a good time and meet new people. So much to do other then watch Rage Against The Machine.”
However, someone else was more sympathetic to the plight of RATM fans and said: “You see the state of the lineup? If I was local to Leeds or Reading I would have got a ticket just to see them as they hardly ever tour. I’d imagine a lot are in the same boat.”
Another user made a rather amusing football comparison, commenting: “If you bought a ticket for a west Brom game and he played the under 17s, what would you say? You’re still watching west Brom, but not what you paid for is it?”
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Aside from The 1975, The other headline acts over the three days at Reading and Leeds include Dave and the Arctic Monkeys.
LADbible has reached out to Festival Republic for comment.