Blood Orange Cancels Sugar Mountain Appearance & Headline Sydney Show

Celebrated UK artist Blood Orange has cancelled his impending performances in Australia, citing "personal and family matters".

The young muso, whose real name is Dev Hynes, was set to perform at Melbourne's Sugar Mountain Festival this month, as well as stepping out for a one-off headline show in Sydney. 

"I was looking forward to visiting Australia this year," Hynes said in a statement. "Unfortunately due to personal and family matters, and after much consideration, I’ve decided to cancel these shows to spend time with my family. Sending love in the new year."

Promoters Frontier Touring, Sugar Mountain and I OH YOU also offered their joint sympathies and expressed their apologies to fans affected by the news.

Fans who had purchased tickets to Blood Orange's show at the Enmore Theatre will be able to obtain full refunds through Ticketek (see the agency's website for further details), while Melburnian festival-goers will hopefully have the sting of the loss dulled by the inclusion of not one but four new acts joining the Sugar Mountain bill in the wake of Blood Orange's withdrawal: The Avalanches, US artist Spank Rock, Kiwi fave Young Tapz and Melburnian buzz act HABITS.

Sugar Mountain will be held at the Victorian College of the Arts on Saturday 21 January, also featuring sets from the likes of ALTA, Big Scary, Jaala, Methyl Ethel, MY DISCO, Slum Sociable, Sui Zhen, The Belligerents and more, alongside a diversity of visual art, and food and drink options.

For further information, see the festival's website.