Festival call-off by Conchita over visas

Eurovision Song Contest winner Conchita Wurst has cancelled her performance at the Edinburgh International Festival after her band members were denied visas.

The Austrian drag queen had been due to perform at last night’s showing of New European Songbook, alongside her Syrian ensemble Basalt, who are based in Vienna.

But despite a supporting statement from the festival, each of the three Basalt members were unsuccessful with their visa applications.

As a result, Wurst pulled out of the concert entirely, but it went ahead with the remaining acts.

A statement from the festival said: “We are very disappointed to announce that the Syrian artists were unsuccessful in their application for visas to perform live at the concert.

“The concert will go ahead with a specially recorded introduction by Conchita and Basalt and a film of their performance.

“The International Festival has issued an open invitation to Conchita and Basalt to perform later at this year’s festival. If this is not possible, the invitation will be extended to the 2018 International Festival.”

The festival is on the Home Office list of permit-free festivals, which allows artists who need a visa to enter the country to apply for a standard visitor’s visa, rather than a working visa.

Drag queen was due to perform last night in Edinburgh.