San Francisco metallers MACHINE HEAD have released the following statement:

"It is with the utmost disappointment that we must announce that MACHINE HEAD will not be playing the Sonisphere date at Knebworth in the U.K. on August 2.

"In a turn of events that has left us absolutely baffled, the promoter of the U.K. Sonisphere festival recently placed, unbeknownst to us, LIMP BIZKIT in our third slot on the festival. Seeing as the running order was a significant part of the negotiation and agreement between us and the promoter, and the fact that we had been advertised in that slot since the festival's announcement, you can imagine our surprise when we were 'told' that we would now be playing in the fourth slot, under LIMP BIZKIT, and bizarrely, it was actually expected that we would quietly move down the bill without issue. We will not.

"MACHINE HEAD turned down the U.K.'s Download festival, a festival we are very fond of — which, incidentally, had us above LIMP BIZKIT — to commit to the Knebworth festival, as we felt a closer kinship to the bands performing this year. In an effort to make this situation in Knebworth work, we have spent more than a week striving to resolve this issue in a proper manner. Unfortunately, that did not happen.

"So we have regrettably been left with no choice but to cancel our appearance rather than stand for the disrespect and indignity offered by a promoter who won't honor our agreement. While we know that our fans will be furious about this situation — as are we, beyond words — we trust that you will all understand our position, and we encourage you to voice your opinion about it as loud and clear as possible.

"The rest of our festival dates across Europe, including the other Sonisphere dates, as well as our headline of the Wacken festival remain unchanged."