DOWN announces two “pop-up” shows in Louisiana following the cancellation of a concert in New Mexico

DOWN announced two “pop-up” concerts for this week in Louisiana after the band’s previously announced concert in Mescalero, New Mexico, was postponed due to two fast-growing wildfires converging on a village in the inside a state tribal reservation.

The long-running heavy metal supergroup, which includes singer Philippe H. Anselmeguitarists Keenan Pepper And Kirk Windsteindrummer Jimmy Bower and bassist Pat Bruders, was scheduled to perform on Thursday, June 20 at the Inn Of The Mountain Gods Resort And Casino in Mescalero, New Mexico. But the show was canceled after thousands of southern New Mexico residents were ordered to evacuate their homes and fires caused the partial closure of U.S. Highway 70 south of the village of Ruidoso .

The South Fork Fire started Monday on the Mescalero Apache Reservation, where President Thora Walsh Padilla declared a state of emergency.

$5 per ticket for each DOWN pop-up performances will be donated to the Mescalero Apache Nation – South Fork Fire relief fund.

The dates are as follows:

June 20 – Southport Hall – New Orleans, LA
June 21 – Varsity Theater – Baton Rouge, LA

In a video message shared on social networks, Keenan said, “Hey, guys, it’s DOWN. We’re in a strange situation right now and we’re adjusting by the minute as we speak here. But our show at the Inn Of The Mountain Gods was clearly canceled because of a horrible wildfire raging throughout the Apache Reservation, the South Fork Fire. So we had to adapt and jump ship and try to find another way to not only not postpone the show, but now we’re also trying to help as much as we can. And being from Louisiana, we know how evil Mother Nature can be sometimes. So we’re going to do two pop-up shows. One of them will take place Thursday, June 20 at the Southport Music Hall in New Orleans. The second will be on the 21st at the Varsity Theater in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.”

When DOWNThe show at the Inn Of The Mountain Gods Resort And Casino was first announced in April, with the band saying that Windstein would not participate in the show due to his commitments with CROWBAR. The replacement at this week’s concerts will be a former DOWN guitarist Bobby Landgraf.

DOWNthe last concert of took place in September 2022 at Blue Ridge Rock Festival in Alton, Virginia.

DOWN made a handful of rare live appearances in the spring and summer of 2022. The band kicked off a three-date run in the United States in May 2022 at Welcome to Rockville festival in Daytona Beach, Florida. After playing in Atlanta and Dallas immediately after Rockville, DOWN took a three-week break before regrouping for three appearances at European festivals in June. The aforementioned appearance at that year’s edition Blue Ridge Rock Festival followed in September 2022.

In August 2021, DOWN participated in a very special in-person, live and virtual experience. “NOLA City Kickoff” took place at the Fillmore in New Orleans, Louisiana and featured fans attending the show in person and watching it in real time from the comfort of their living rooms.

In August 2020, DOWN celebrated the 25th anniversary of “NOLA” with a special live-streamed event. Double “The setback of a quarter of a century”the high-production, multi-camera event was delivered using cutting-edge streaming technology to create a one-of-a-kind virtual concert experience.

A founding member of DOWN, Windstein left the group in 2013 to focus on CROWBAR and his family life. It was replaced by Bobby Landgraf, DOWNthe former guitar technician of GAHDZILLA AUTOMOTIVE COMPANYa 1990s outfit also featuring Jason McMaster (DANGEROUS TOYS, WATCHTOWER),And HONKY.

Windstein announced his return to DOWN in 2019, with the band confirming a number of festival appearances in 2020 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of “NOLA”all of which were subsequently canceled or postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic that has swept the world.

Ahead of the August 2020 live stream, DOWN‘s last live appearance took place in August 2016 at Psycho Las Vegas festival in Las Vegas.

The supergroup hasn’t released anything since the arrival of “Down IV – Part Two” EP in May 2014.

“Down IV – Part Two” sold approximately 10,000 copies in the United States during its first week of release in May 2014 to debut at number 23 on the Billboard 200 chart.

The group’s previous EP, “Down IV Part I – The Violet EP”opened with around 12,000 units in September 2012, landing at No. 35.

“Down IV – Part Two” was recorded at Nodferatu’s Lair — Anselmthe home studio of – and produced by Michael Thompson. It was published via Registrations down/ADA Music.