Tampa metallers Iced Earth announced Tuesday they will have to miss their scheduled headlining slot at the Bangalore Open Air festival in INdia on June 16th due to problems encountered in obtaiing visas for the band and support staff.  The Bangalore festival is being billed as the first-ever metal festival in India, with twelve hours of non-stop metal from local acts as well as international bands like Kreator, Dying Embrace, Kryptos and others.  The official statement from Iced Earth, formerly known as Purgatory, can be seen below.

"Dear fans, friends and fellow metalheads in India. It is with a heavy heart and deep regret to announce that we will not be performing at the Bangalore Open Air festival on June 16th. Unfortunately, we have been a victim of terminal visa issues for our American band and crew members, despite having followed every step given to us and retaining one of the top immigration firms in the world to do the job. It turns out some of the regulations have changed without this being made known to us and we are now no longer in a position to get the necessary paperwork in place. This has come as a huge disappointment since we were looking forward to performing for and meeting all of you for the very first time in your wonderful country.

"We would like to thank the team of Bangalore Open Air for all their help and support along the way. Unfortunately, things are now beyond the control of the band and the organizers but we sincerely hope all the metalheads in India will continue to support Bangalore Open Air and all the fantastic bands scheduled to play there.

"Finally, a huge thank you to all the Indian metalheads for your kind words and wonderful support. We promise to make every effort to make it to India as soon as humanly possible and bang heads with each and every one of you."