Freedom 250 Concert Loses Nearly Its Entire Lineup Before First Note

Bret Michaels and The Commodores are the latest acts to exit the Trump-backed Freedom 250 Great American State Fair on the National Mall, leaving organizers with a stage and not much else.

Bret Michaels of Poison has withdrawn from the Freedom 250 Great American State Fair on the National Mall, citing political backlash.
The Commodores have also exited the lineup, following a wave of earlier departures.
The event, positioned as a patriotic concert series tied to the Trump administration, has shed nearly all of its announced talent.
No replacement acts have been publicly confirmed as of the time of filing.
The National Mall date remains on the calendar despite the near-total collapse of the bill.

Bret Michaels, the Poison frontman who has spent three decades as rock's most reliable good-time ambassador, has withdrawn from the Freedom 250 Great American State Fair on the National Mall, according to reporting by The Hollywood Reporter. The Commodores departed the same bill around the same time.

The exits are not isolated. By the time Michaels and the Motown-era group pulled out, the lineup had already shed the majority of its originally announced acts amid sustained political backlash from artists reluctant to perform under the event's affiliation with the Trump administration.

The Freedom 250 concert series was announced with considerable fanfare as a patriotic showcase tied to the United States' 250th anniversary. Organizers have not publicly announced replacement bookings.

The National Mall date remains scheduled.

Michaels, for his part, is perhaps best known for surviving a near-fatal brain hemorrhage in 2010, a ruptured appendix the same year, and four seasons of Rock of Love on VH1. A concert cancellation represents a comparatively manageable setback.