Wanting to be ‘free of politics and propaganda,’ Luzerne County cancels Low Cut Connie’s Wilkes-Barre show
Adam Weiner, the band's leader, released a protest song called ‘Livin in the USA’ in May and canceled the band's March performance at the Kennedy Center after President Trump took over.
Adam Weiner of Philly band Low Cut Connie says the group’s show scheduled for Wilkes-Barre this Friday has been canceled “for political reasons.”
On Monday morning, Weiner posted a video on social media explaining that the July 25 free concert at the Rockin’ the River concert series had been canceled. The reason, he said, is because “the organizers of the event feel that my show is too controversial, that it’s going to alienate people and be too polarizing.”
On Monday afternoon, Luzerne County Manager Romilda Crocamo confirmed that the concert was canceled because “our goal is to have a place where we can enjoy music, food, promote our community, have fun, be safe and free of politics and propaganda.”
On the Rockin’ the River schedule, Low Cut Connie has been replaced by Halfway to Hell: A Tribute to AC/DC. Aaron Fink & the Fury, who were scheduled to be Low Cut Connie’s opening act when the series was announced in April, are still on the bill.
In February, when President Donald Trump announced he was taking over the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Low Cut Connie made headlines, along with Shonda Rhimes, Renee Fleming, and Ben Folds, when the band canceled its scheduled March performance.
In May, Low Cut Connie released “Livin in the USA,” a protest song that, Weiner said in his social media post on Monday, “speaks to the terror, unease, the fear that so many people in the United States are experiencing now because of these ICE raids that are absolutely inhumane and anti-American.”
» READ MORE: Why Adam Weiner of Philly’s Low Cut Connie won’t play Donald Trump’s Kennedy Center
Shortly after that song was released, Weiner says his booking agent was contacted by Alan K. Stout, executive director of Visit Luzerne County, who said that members of the organization’s board had expressed concerns that the Low Cut Connie show was going to be polarizing.
Trump soundly defeated Kamala Harris in Luzerne County last November, winning 59% of the vote.
Speaking on the phone from Arkansas while driving home to Philly after Low Cut Connie completed a tour of the Western and Southwestern states, Weiner said that a week after hearing from Stout, “we received a snail mail letter saying the Low Cut Connie concert had been canceled.”
No reason was given, he said.
Speaking of the Low Cut Connie show, Stout told the Wilkes-Barre Citizens Voice this month, “we did have an original band this year … but we decided to go in a different direction. It was basically a long story, and I’m not sure how much of it I want to get into.”
Told that the Luzerne County manager had characterized his music as “propaganda,” Weiner said: “I get on stage and tell people I love every single person in the room. Everyone is welcome at the Low Cut Connie show. It’s like a big sexy salad bowl. If pointing out the beauty and diversity of the crowd is wrong, I don’t want to be right.”
“We play red states, blue states, little towns, big towns. I say this stuff every single night. And you know what? The people are with me. I get people to hug each other. I don’t know who they vote for. I don’t know where they come from. And I think it’s really funny that they think it’s a better solution to their problem to have an AC/DC cover band called Halfway To Hell.”
The cancellation, Weiner says, is a sign of the times.
“I think authoritarian regimes and fascism force everyone to make a choice. Every aspect of life is affected by authoritarianism.”
Townships and counties, “that are trying to do their business as usual summer concert series,” he said, are becoming a “referendum on where we are right now.”
“So I’m not surprised that Luzerne County is in the cross hairs,” said Weiner. “I just think they made the absolute wrong decision.”
Low Cut Connie is scheduled to perform at Concerts Under the Stars in King of Prussia on Aug. 1. The band will also do a Wilkes-Barre area show at another venue to make up for the Rockin’ the River cancellation, Weiner said.
“I just got a call from the mayor of Allentown saying he would love to have us play there,” he said. “And we got offers from Scranton and other places in Wilkes-Barre.
“So we will do something, but it won’t be this Friday. But I’m inviting everyone from northeastern Pennsylvania to come down and see us in King of Prussia.”