Country rapper Jelly Roll and mom-rock band Train were set to headline the Alice 97.3 holiday concert on December 1 in San Jose, but the show was just unexpectedly canceled.
It was a Bay Area teen holiday rite of passage for many years when the old Live 105 Not So Silent Night concert was a December staple on the alt-pop concert calendar. The event spawned a rival version from competing station Alice 97.3, called Alice in Winterland, which would feature John Mayer and Ed Sheeran-y kind of fare. No So Silent Night went silent after its final 2017 show, and now the same may be happening to the Alice 97.3 holiday concert. The Chronicle reported Thursday that Alice in Winterland 2023 has been canceled.
The concert was scheduled for Friday, December 1 at the SAP Center in San Jose. The lineup had featured Jelly Roll, SF’s own Train, and Benson Boone.
Alice 97.3 said in an announcement on their parent company’s website that “Due to unforeseen circumstances, this year's Alice in Winterland concert has been canceled. If you purchased tickets, refunds may be obtained at the original point of purchase. We're as disappointed as you are but we look forward to seeing you next year.”
Alice in Winterland started in 1999, and was usually held at smaller San Francisco clubs like Bimbo’s 365 or the Masonic. The annual concert was of course forced to take a couple years off because of COVID-19. But there was an Alice in Winterland show at the SAP Center last year, with One Republic and John Mayer.
Maybe they’re having trouble filling that 18,000-seat San Jose venue, or maybe Bay Area sales aren’t as brisk as the corporate radio monopolies would like. Consider how the similar old Wild 94.9 Jingle Ball, organized by their parent company iHeart Radio, is scheduled to visit 11 cities this year, but no Bay Area cities are included on the tour.
Related: Bay Area's Live 105 Returns to Alt-Rock Format Following Fan Revolt [SFist]
Image: MODESTO, CALIFORNIA - JULY 20: Pat Monahan (L) and Hector Maldonado of Train perform in support of the band's "AM Gold" release at Basi Nationwide Amphitheater on July 20, 2023 in Modesto, California. (Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images)
