ReAwaken America tour canceled after Boycott in Rochester, New York

After controversy erupted in Rochester last week, The ReAwaken America tour no longer will include August stops at the Main Street Armory.

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Last week, indie bands Japanese Breakfast, and Rochester New York's Joywave boycotted the Rochester Main Street Armory, over the scheduled stops of the ReAwaken America tour planned for August.

Yesterday, the Main Street Armory announced that it was pulling the plug on the event due to 'Community Concern'

A statement from Scott Donaldson, owner of the historic Rochester venue, read in part:

I’d like to say that the Main Street Armory is an equal opportunity and non-political venue.  We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, gender expression, age, national origin, disability, etc…(In response) to the outpour(ing) of concern from our community, both good and bad, I have decided after careful thought to cancel the ReAwaken America Tour that was scheduled in August 2022.

We reached out to Joywave frontman Daniel Armbruster, a lifelong Rochester resident, and he had this to say:

Joywave thanks The Main Street Armory for listening to the local community and canceling The Reawaken America Tour. The events of January 6th, 2021 were upsetting to all Americans regardless of political belief and shook the foundation of our democracy. Those forces do not belong in Monroe County. While we wish the event had never been booked in the first place, we applaud the decision to cancel and keep our community safe from extremism.

- Daniel Armbruster, Joseph Morinelli, Paul Brenner (Joywave)

You can see the full statement from the Main Street Armory in the Tweet below.

Japanese Breakfast, who was scheduled to play at the Armory on September 27th, canceled their show as part of their boycott of the venue.  There is no word yet, as to if they will be rescheduled at the Main Street Armory, now that the ReAwaken America Tour has been canceled.