As previously reported, LEAVES' EYES and ATROCITY were forced to cancel their March 1st appearances at the Mandragora’s Fest in Mexico "due to major technical problems and power issues that were out of the band's control." They have now issued a detailed outline of events that forced the cancellation. A portion of it appears below:

Alex Krull: "Actually this trip was supposed to be a great start for our new people Nick and Alla for Leaves' Eyes and Atrocity, moreover, it would have been the live debut for the new Atrocity songs from the Werk 80 II album. But this time, our trip to Mexico turned out to be ill-fated. Because we were headliners with Leaves' Eyes, we originally were supposed to have our sound-check done one day before the festival. But this never happened."

Dirk Lehberger (Noisegate Productions, tour manager Leaves' Eyes & Atrocity) states: "The trip to Mexico was a very long and partly exhausting one for all of the bands coming from Europe. On Friday high noon, after the press conference, there was said to be a sound-check, but we were consoled from hour to hour. We finally arrived at the site on Friday night about 9.00 p.m. in order to soundcheck, however, the stage was not even built by then. Even the backline wasn't available at that moment. We had already been speaking to the promoter's representative that evening discussing all the deplorable state of affairs because the stage wasn't safe at all and not appropriate as stage. He told us that in the morning this should be improved and done. Returning at 10.00 am in the morning, this wasn't the case at all."

Front of House mixer Arne Lakenmacher: "The safety of the whole event wasn't acceptable at all. As we finally arrived in the morning for soundchecking, we noticed that even the entrance to the stage was not secured at all and wobbly. As we walked on the stage I actually managed to break through the rotten stage shelves! It was impossible to think about soundchecking."

Dirk Lehberger continues: "It was clear to all of us that the show couldn't take place, for nobody, after this incident concerning Arne and his breaking through of stage. Therefore, we took care in cooperation and approval with our Mexican agent from Dilemma for the safety of the whole event to get a new stage set up which finally was achieved by the local promoter. That's why I was staying the whole afternoon at the festival site to be sure that the new construction of the stage is secure enough for all of the bands. There was no single sight from any of the others who were responsible for the other bands."

Stefan Liebhauser (lights): "The stage was a risk to our security, moreover, the electricity wasn't grounded. There was no controllable light mixing desk for me. It was total chaos and without our tour manager Dirk Lehberger, there probably would never have been a show at all."

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