UPDATE: Stevie Nicks Pulls Out of BottleRock Over COVID Concerns; Chris Stapleton to Fill In
NAPA (CBS SF) -- Fleetwood Mac singer and solo star Stevie Nicks on Tuesday announced she would be cancelling five scheduled performances in 2021 -- including a headlining appearance at BottleRock in less than a month -- over COVID-19 concerns.
Nicks posted a statement about the cancelled appearances on Twitter Tuesday afternoon, saying that rising COVID cases were behind the decision.
"While I'm vaccinated, at my age, I am still being extremely cautious and for that reason have decided to skip the five performances I had planned for 2021," the post read.
Nicks had been one of the planned headliners for the 2020 edition of the Napa music festival prior to it being postponed due to the pandemic.
BottleRock Napa tweeted about Nicks dropping off the festival's bill at around the same time, expressing regrets that the singer would not be performing while announcing that country songwriter Chris Stapleton would be joining the line-up as the new Friday headliner.
The festival is happening on Labor Day weekend starting Friday, Sept. 3, just over three weeks away.
In late July, organizers behind the pandemic delayed BottleRock Napa Valley music festival announced that attendees would have to show proof of either full COVID vaccination or a negative test taken in the 72 hours prior to attending the festival.
The festival posted the info on its officials website as well as its social media channels on July 30th.
"We strongly encourage all guests be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. To be fully vaccinated in time for BottleRock, you must receive your first dose of Pfizer no later than August 6th or your single dose of Johnson + Johnson no later than August 20th," the post on Instagram read.
The announcement also noted that the festival's health and safety requirements were subject to change and that ticketholders would be notified immediately if there were any updates.
Some Napa residents have COVID concerns, but they know how much the music festival adds to the local economy.
"You're fearful that people are going to be irresponsible but like I said, come on here and be responsible and enjoy our town," said Erin Escalera, a business owner in Napa.
Maria Raff, a Napa resident adds, "I do want the revenue to come to the Napa Valley because we need it. Because we lost a lot of it in this pandemic."
The festival was supposed to be held Memorial Day weekend but was postponed, which according to UCSF infectious disease Dr. Peter Chin-Hong maybe perfect timing.
"The models suggest we will begin starting to decrease our current surge by the end of this month. We maybe in a period where community transmission might be lower by the time BottleRock is coming," said Dr. Chin-Hong.
And while the delta variant has been described as sticky and highly transmissible, Dr. Peter Chin-Hong says the fact that there are strict protocols and that it will be held outdoors are a huge plus.
"It's more transmissible compared to a factor of two to the regular Covid but we know that outdoors, if you want to put a number to it is 20 time less risky than indoor transmissions," he explains.
BottleRock says it's health and safety requirements are subject to change and ticket holders will be notified.
Dr Chin-Hong though says the concern is more about the pre and post gatherings and not the music festival itself.
The festival was canceled last year due to the pandemic and shifted from its traditional spring dates to Labor Day Weekend. Early last May, headliners Guns 'N Roses, Foo Fighters and Miley Cyrus were announced.
Other acts on the bill include Megan Thee Stallion, Brandi Carlile, Cage the Elephant, Portugal, Maren Morris, Jimmy Eat World, G-Eazy and Mavis Staples.
While three-day festival passes priced between $369 to $4,350 and individual day tickets sold out quickly when they went on sale in May, the festival has opened it's official ticket exchange website for those interested in buying or selling tickets. More information on the festival is available at the BottleRock Napa Valley website.
Andrea Nakano contributed to this report.
