Washington – US President Donald Trump says he is considering cancelling a planned series of concerts on Washington DC’s National Mall commemorating the country’s 250th anniversary after a string of artists withdrew from the event, and replacing them with a speech and political-style rally instead.
The concerts were planned as part of the larger Great American State Fair, a 16-day event running from June 25 to July 10, 2026.
Organisers said the fair, organised by the Freedom 250 group, would stretch on the National Mall from the US Capitol to the Washington Monument, with concert stages, state pavilions, exhibits, rides and other attractions spread across the Mall.
But the musical line-up has been hit by a series of cancellations.
On Friday, Bret Michaels, the lead singer of the rock band Poison, became the fifth performer to withdraw from the concerts, saying that the event was not the non-partisan celebration that he thought it would be.
Organisers have not publicly detailed the reasons for the departures although the exits have raised questions about the viability of the event as originally envisioned.
“I understand artists are getting ‘the yips’ having to do with their performance on Wednesday,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Saturday, suggesting the concert series may no longer be necessary if performers continue to back out.
He floated the possibility of giving a speech on the National Mall instead, portraying himself as a more powerful draw than any musical act.
“The fact is that I am, according to many, the Number One Attraction anywhere in the World,” Trump wrote.
He added that he gets “much larger audiences than Elvis in his prime” and “does so without a guitar”.
The president said he is “ordering my Representatives to look at the feasibility of doing an AMERICA IS BACK Rally”.
Freedom 250 is a public-private partnership created by the White House to co-ordinate celebrations of the United States’ 250th anniversary alongside federal agencies.
It remains unclear whether replacement musicians will be recruited, or whether Trump’s proposal to substitute a rally for the performances is being seriously considered by organisers.
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