Singing duo Wings of Desire are speaking out “on behalf of all musicians who have been treated poorly” after allegedly being “gaslit” over a festival slot.
The art-rock pair – comprising husband and wife James Taylor and Chloe Little – took to Instagram to share a post claiming they had been booked to perform at Valley Fest in the UK but had to return home without playing after learning the stage they were meant to be performing on didn’t exist.
Not only that, they made their journey to the festival, near Bristol, with their 11-week-old baby.
They began their Instagram post: “That time you got booked for a stage at a festival that didn’t exist…
“Pack up the car, tiny breastfed baby in tow, the pram, the ear protectors, the nappies, the multiple outfit changes, grannie to babysit, the guitars, the organ, the mics.”
But when they arrived at the festival, they said that “no one knows where we are meant to go”.
They continued: “Can’t be driven to the stage as there is confusion how to access.
“Walk around with all our gear + baby, use the pram as a trolly, get turned away from every tent. The number of the production contact we have keeps going to a Giff Gaff voicemail.”
And upon arriving at the stage they’d been booked to play, which wasn’t even on the map of the festival, they found that “a PowerPoint presentation about property development is going on”.
They went on: “The curator of the stage confirms he hadn’t booked us and the lineup had been in place for months. He tells us of a good place in Ecuador to buy frankincense.
“Baby is crying, needs feeding. We all need feeding. Luckily we have a meal ticket we can use at one of the food vans. We wait for a call that doesn’t come.”
After a lengthy wait for the phone call, they headed “back to the car, pack up the stuff, nappy change on the back seat, more tears, drive 2 hours home”.
They concluded: “This weekend had the same dopamine hit of going to an airport, through security and waiting 3 hours for a non existent flight.
“Just a lovely example of how the music industry treats artists.”
Following the Instagram post being shared, Valley Fest founder Luke Hasell said he was “really sorry to hear about Wings Of Desire’s experience”.
He added that a decision had been made to merge the stage they’d been booked on with another venue, with the artists who had been due to perform there allocated to a different location.
He said: “Unfortunately, it appears there was a breakdown in communication around Wings of Desire’s performance, which meant they weren’t given the information they needed ahead of arriving on site.
“We’ll be reaching out to the band’s management to apologise, better understand their experience and make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
Wings of Desire then responded by saying: “We have of course heard nothing from them and have not been compensated. We do not appreciate being gaslit into being told it was a miscommunication. We have all the receipts.”