‘Herd immunity’ music festival changes its name after an act drops out

‘The name is no longer tied to any of our social media or promotion’

A Wisconsin music festival that was billed as “Herd Immunity Fest” has changed its name and branding after an act withdrew from its lineup.

The rock festival is still set to take place from 16-18 July. Acts including Static-X, Dope, Bobaflex and Royal Bliss are set to feature.

Florida-based outfit Nonpoint were scheduled to play, but the band’s management told Consequence of Sound: “As soon as the band saw [that] they changed the title of 'Fest' to ‘Herd Immunity Fest’, they dropped off.”

On Twitter, the band wrote: “Nonpoint is not playing the show because of the name of the show.”

Since then, the festival’s organisers have removed the original advertising on Facebook, and posted a message which reads: “For the record the venues land can accommodate up to 10,000 occupancy. This is an OUTDOOR EVENT for three days We are only selling 20 per cent of that so anyone has the choice and ability to social distance.

“The Festival is also not called ‘Herd Immunity’ and the name no longer tied to any of our social media or promotion.”

It has not yet been confirmed whether Nonpoint will rejoin the lineup following the name change.

The festival’s original post read: “As humans we NEED other human contact. MUSIC in itself is great, but the live streams as I am sure you all know is just not the same we need LIVE , feel it to the bones, run shivers up your spine MUSIC with people around us. Takes us all away on a trip that unless you have felt it you won’t understand.”

The “herd immunity” theory posits that allowing the coronavirus to spread through the population encourages people to quickly develop immunity, becoming less likely to then pass the virus on to others.

It has been refuted by many medical experts and has been rejected as a pandemic strategy in countries across Europe.