The great Paramore reset of 2024 continues apace, with the band announcing on Jan. 18 that it will no longer be performing at three Latin American festivals over the next several months. The group has cancelled its headlining appearances at Festival Estéreo Picnic in Bogotá, Colombia; Lollapalooza Brazil in São Paulo, Brazil; and Vive Latino in Mexico City, Mexico. The band will be replaced by Kings of Leon for all three dates.
The news comes shortly after the band cancelled its performance at Anaheim’s iHeartRadio Alter Ego Festival, which itself came after the band wiped its social media accounts. Though this fueled fan fears that the band was breaking up, a message on the band’s Instagram Stories today promises a “next era’ instead.
Paramore have now dropped out of four festival appearances in the past month.
The short message reads: “Due to unforeseen circumstances, Paramore can no longer attend or perform at Vive Latino in Mexico City, Festival Estéreo Picnic in Bogotá, and Lollapalooza Brazil in São Paulo. In their place, Kings of Leon have been confirmed. Paramore thanks them and apologizes for any inconvenience. They will see you in the next era.”
That “next era” phrasing, which has quickly become one of modern music’s most frustratingly nebulous teases, is particularly open-ended for Paramore, which recently fulfilled its contractual obligations to Atlantic Records and has yet to announce long-term future plans. The band's cancellation of its Southern California Alter Ego performance fueled speculation that Paramore might be performing at Coachella -- which requires artists to forego performing within a certain distance of the Indio festival location for several months before and after -- though the group was not present when the festival announced its lineup this week.
Amidst all this mystery, the group recently announced it will contribute a cover of Talking Heads’ “Burning Down the House” for an A24 tribute to the band’s legendary, recently re-released concert film Stop Making Sense. Paramore frontperson Hayley Williams is seen with David Byrne’s iconic oversized suit jacket and boombox in a trailer for the album, which is at present the only permanent content on the band’s Instagram page. A release date for that album (as well as the names of other contributing artists) has yet to be revealed.
Frontperson Hayley Williams is featured in a teaser trailer for a 'Stop Making Sense' tribute album.
In a Dec. 14 interview with Uproxx, seemingly the most recent interview for which Paramore has sat, author Carolyn Droke noted: “They’ve now fulfilled all label obligations (to Atlantic Records) and are effectively free agents. As for the future of Paramore, all three members agreed that there's a level of uncertainty."
"The only thing that matters is we will still get to be each other's community," Williams told the outlet. Drummer Zac Farro added: ”I just hope we can keep building the Paramore empire and then rule the world.”
The group is still scheduled to open for Taylor Swift for the European dates of her Eras Tour, which kicks off in Paris on May 5 and winds down in London on August 17.
Paramore’s last album with Atlantic, This Is Why, was released in Feb. of 2023, and reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200. The group’s self-titled major label debut reached No. 1 in 2013, while its final two albums for the influential indie label Fueled By Ramen also breached the upper reaches of the chart, with 2007’s Riot! certified triple-platinum by the RIAA.
