A scheduled concert of Napalm Death at London’s V&A art gallery and museum has been cancelled following fears that the sound would “damage the historic fabric of the building”.

The venue, currently host to the David Bowie Is… exhibition, was set to put on the show tomorrow (22 March) but it’s now been pulled after the owners thought the high decibel levels of the grindcore band would cause structural damage and damage to works of art displayed in the building.

The V&A released the following statement:

“It is with regret that we have taken the decision to cancel the one-off Napalm Death performance. This was due to take place in the Europe Galleries which are currently being refurbished and a further safety inspection has revealed concerns that the high level of decibels generated by the concert would damage the historic fabric of the building.”

 

Singer Barney Greenway told The Telegraph that the organisers had showed previous concern of the levels of sound, saying:

“ had been making noises. They started asking the sound guy fairly nervously: ‘What will the volume be like?’ He was like, ‘What can I tell you? They make a lot of noise. He didn’t know what would happen to the plates. Apparently there was some suspended china thing around the stage. Obviously if we cranked out and it detached from the ceiling, that would be embarrassing.”