In a new interview organizer Catherine Jackson-Smith shared that the festival did not want to cancel the group’s headline set.

“It was categorically one of the most horrendous professional discussions I’ve ever had,” she said. “I cannot express clearly enough that I wanted Bob Vylan to perform at our festival. But this was not our decision.”

According to Jackson-Smith, Radar was caught between behind-the-scenes conversations involving the venue, its co-owners AMG and Live Nation, and local authorities. The decision to drop Bob Vylan was presented as an ultimatum: either cancel the band’s appearance or risk losing the entire Saturday program.