Down pulled from Dutch festival bill

Organisers of Dutch festival FortaRock have pulled Phil Anselmo’s Down from this year’s bill.

The band were due to appear at the event on June 4 and 5 at Nijmegen, Netherlands. But following frontman Anselmo’s “white power” outburst last week, the vocalist has been told he and his band are “no longer welcome” at the gathering.

FortaRock organisers say in a statement: “After the recent outbursts by singer Phil Anselmo during the Dimebash event in the US, his band Down is no longer welcome at FortaRock.

“There has been close consultation between all parties in recent days since we wanted to make a well-informed decision. On that basis, the decision is made to cancel the act.

“We want to make clear that there is no room for racism or fascism at FortaRock.”

Anselmo’s actions were slammed by Machine Head frontman Robb Flynn and others from the music world, leading the former Pantera man to issue an apology in which he begged to be given “another chance.”

Anselmo initially refused to say sorry and insisted he was making an in-joke about drinking white wine backstage.

Why Phil Anselmo’s ‘White Power’ outburst shouldn’t be ignored

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent 35 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving into e-commerce in 2020. Scott keeps Louder’s buyer’s guides up to date, writes about the best deals for music fans, keeps on top of the latest tech releases and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more for Louder. Over the last 10 years, Scott has written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, The Tragically Hip, Marillion and Rush.