The Daily Swarm

All Hip-Hop:

A major concert featuring Atlanta rapper Young Jeezy was canceled by officials at The University of Delaware today (April 29) due to an outbreak of the highly contagious Swine Flu.

UD President Patrick T. Harker announced that the concert, as well as a speaking engagement with noted journalist Gwen Ifill would be canceled, because 10 students on campus were suspected of having the deadly H5N1 avian influenza.

“While the Centers for Disease Control have not yet confirmed any swine flu diagnoses, I have no doubt that these suspected cases are causing a great deal of concern among the entire campus community,” University of Delaware President Patrick T. Harker said. “The University’s first priority is the health and well-being of our students and employees. Therefore, we are working closely with the Delaware Division of Public Health (DPH) to safeguard student, staff, and faculty health.”

Guardian:

Swine flu has claimed its first victim in the world of music, as Peterborough band Kissmet were forced to pull a gig in Mexico this week as the country went on red alert. The six-piece first played the festival in Mexico City in 2006, reports Peterborough Today, and their performance was such a hit they were asked to return to play the 60,000 capacity show this year. But the Bhangra-rock group have been left disappointed as swine flu outbreak has forced the festival to be cancelled.

“As soon as they started talking about people having stay indoors, I knew there would be a problem,” said band member Ron Singh. “Right on the nose, we were told we couldn’t go. We are really gutted.”

Revolver:

Black-metal legends Mayhem have been forced to cancel their Mexican May 1-to-3 shows due to the outbreaks of swine flu in Mexico. The band has announced, “Rest assured, we are already working on finding new dates so that we can get over there and spread OUR plague!” Mexican fans are urged to please, please refrain from burning everything in sight.

Los Angeles Times

Cornelius, the Beatles-loving omnivore of seemingly all pop music, has cancelled his tour because of “swine flu concerns and increased governmental travel restrictions,” according to an e-mail blast from his publicist. The Japanese artist was planning on stopping twice in Mexico, plus two dates in Los Angeles and Pomona in mid-May.

And Four Tet, a.k.a. Kieran Hebden, was due to perform for the first time in Mexico tonight but had to cancel because the venue closed, according to a report in Music Week. Camp Freddy also nixed a show in Cancun, Mexico, slotted for May 18.

Billboard:

Alejandro Fernandez, Marco Antonio Solis, Los Lobos and Alejandra Guzman are just a few of the acts that have been affected by the cancellations of cultural festivals, theater and sports events. The Jonas Brothers and Metallica are still scheduled to perform sold-out shows in Monterrey and Mexico City, respectively, in the coming weeks.

An April 24 show by the Finnish group the Rasmus at Mexico City’s Auditorio Nacional was canceled, while an April 25 concert by the Mexican pop act Ha-Ash at the same venue was rescheduled for May 7.