Allah-Las Rotterdam Concert Canceled After Terror Warning From Spanish Police
A rock music venue in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam says it has cancelled a concert by Los Angeles rock band Allah-Las because of a "terror threat." The scheduled show hadn't yet started when the…
UPDATE: The Allah-Las issued the following statement to Billboard: “Due to a potential terror threat at The Maassilo in Rotterdam, the Allah-Las show was cancelled tonight. Details are not available at this time as the incident is still under investigation. The band is unharmed and are very grateful to the Rotterdam Police and other responsible agencies for detecting the potential threat before anyone was hurt. We are unable to comment any further at this time.”
A rock music venue in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam says it has cancelled a concert by Los Angeles rock band Allah-Las because of a “terror threat.” The scheduled show hadn’t yet started when the decision to cancel it was made.
Concert organizer Rotown said on Twitter that Wednesday (Aug. 22) night’s concert at the Maassilo venue was cancelled on orders of police.
Rotterdam police did not specify the nature of the threat in a statement Wednesday night, but said an investigation was underway and no arrests have been made.
“Police took this information seriously enough that after discussion with organizers it was decided to cancel the event,” the Rotterdam police statement said.
The mayor of Rotterdam says police in the port city stopped a van with Spanish license plates containing a number of gas bottles close to the venue of a concert by the band that was cancelled following a threat.
Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb said at a hastily-arranged press conference that the van’s driver had been detained and was being questioned on Wednesday night. Aboutaleb saif the concert by the band was called off after Dutch police received a terror warning from Spanish police, who have been investigating the deadly vehicle attacks last week that killed 15 people. He declined to give further details on the nature of the warning or where in Spain it came from.
Previously, concert organizer Rotown had said on Twitter that the concert venue, a former grain silo called Maassilo, was being evacuated because of the unspecified threat and concertgoers would get their money back. Dutch television showed officers in body armor outside Maassilo and what appeared to be members of the band leaving the venue in a white van with a police escort.
Allah-Las is a four-piece band from Los Angeles. The band did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment on Wednesday night. In an interview with British newspaper The Guardian last year, band members said they chose the word All, Arabic for God, because they were seeking a “holy sounding” name. They said they didn’t realize it might offend Muslims.
Lead singer Miles Michaud told the newspaper that the group received emails from Muslims around the world who said they were offended. Michaud said the band usually wrote back and explained its intentions were honorable “and mainly they understand.”
More From Pro
